Political Correctness or just ridiculous

Trivial ( or in this case non existent ) ‘slurs’ really do put peoples backs up ( risk turning against them ) as JaneA says.
That doesn’t mean that somebody can’t complain, even if it seems ridiculous, but I would hope that firms don’t simply cave in to it.If a number of complaints were received then most firms who need to sell would consider doing something,
But not just one person complaining that she didn’t like the name.

Elegran And you risk turning them against you as well.

I sometimes wonder if it is forgotten, or at least discounted, that there was a long and hard-fought campaign to abolish slavery, and that more American lives were lost in the Civil War than in WW2.

You don't win anyone over to fight at your side by labelling non-combatants as enemy and firing at them.

!! ?

You learn something new every day.

I thought magnolia was the answer to everything.

So it is, Mokryna!

Pantone 17-13 27, please? love it mokryna!

Summerlove

The fact that so few see how they are contributing to racism and In fact think they are arguing against it is wholly disheartening.

hearts might be in the right place, but words and attitudes are not.

I now fully understand why so many here do not see the UK as having race issues.

That is the point many of us are making.

There are serious issues
This type of action trivialises them.

You have no idea about any of the posters on here, their heritage, their relatives, their friends and neighbours.

If you insist. Have you got my bra size in Pantone 17-13 27, please?

If you look RAL number it is also called ...

Have you got my bra size in colour RAL 0504040 please?’

Or a pantone chart?

To avoid names to describe colours and maybe causing offence, use something on the lines of the universal colour chart similar to book codes. Imagine asking ‘Have you got my bra size in colour RAL 0504040 please?’

If this one is deleted too, I shall know what I said that caused it.

Jane I wish I had copied and saved it before posting, likewise I wish I had copied and saved the two previous deleted ones.

I think they were deleted because I brought the Holocaust into the conversation (yes, three times, because I thought each time that there were parallels between the situations of the two lots of victims and that I could say so without injuring susceptibilities) but I said a lot more about general things than that, and had I taken copies I could have reposted the bits that no-one could have taken exception to. Now I would have to recompose the whole lot, and frankly I CBA to think it all out again and phrase it so that it makes sense.

How long before the word 'the' is deemed offensive to someone! If you are upset by a colour being named 'tobacco' then you need to have a serious word with yourself. So many words have connotations beyond their obvious meaning. It's getting to the point where a person can't open their mouth without someone clutching their pearls.

Farnorth
It's odd that a number of posters on here seem to think that the person who complained should just have kept quiet and not expressed her opinion

I never said that the complainant has no right to express her opinion. She has.

But equally, others have the right to say that in their opinion she is misguided and that M&S should have made a more robust response.

And the deleted post @14.02 was of her usual calibre janeainsworth. It's a pity that it was deleted because it was a sensible and erudite post. But there we are......it offended a poster and so was zapped.

Well, I wish I knew what Elegran had said at 14.02 as her posts are a beacon of common sense and a joy to read!

I posted the link in response to Summerloves comment as highlighted Elegran.
People can decide for themselves whether the colour of a bra is relevant. The programme might help them decide for themselves.

The colour of a bra is not an aggression, major or even minor. There is a tiny chance that whatever the descriptive name given, someone, somewhere, may see it as a slur because their own skin matches the colour of that bra and they see the word used to name it as representing something nasty.

Skin may be any shade which has white, pink, beige, yellow, brown, black, or a blend of any two or more of these and even a purple hue.

Tobacco is not good for your health - neither are rich desserts full of cream and sugar, hard drugs, and a whole host of other things, including over-indulgence in alcohol, chocolate, and coffee. Possible bra colours include references to all of them, and so do skin colours. Should marketers not use any fancy terms for colours at all, but stick to red, blue, yellow and so on (of course yellow could be seen as a racist term - but golden as an alternative could be seen as a financial reference. It goes on for ever)

Slaves had to do a lot of things, involving tending field crops like cotton, sugar, corn, beans, and fruit. They cut wood and hauled water, and they cooked and cleaned and nursed. They were called Mammy or Boy.

There are a lot of innocent words in common use which have distant links to these things. Being too quick to object to them dilutes the campaign to end racism, it doesn't help it.

Meant to add the link

www.channel4.com/programmes/the-talk/on-demand/71609-001

The difference is, some people view all parts of racism as a serious issue, and others view micro aggressions and thoughtlessness as trivial and ridiculous

If anyone is interested in learning more about why microaggressions are a problem for so many individuals and the impact that they have, then I suggest that you watch "The Talk" on Channel 4 catch up, it is available for another 18 days on catchup.

‘It's odd that a number of posters on here seem to think that the person who complained should just have kept quiet and not expressed her opinion.’

They seem to you FarNorth.

No one thinks she couldn’t have an opinion or complain if her thought processes led her to believe it was racism. I do think she should have gone further with her thinking and applied the same rigour to white cotton bras and any other items Marks stock!

And that’s where it gets ridiculous IMO!

the stifling of debate and free thought and speech.

It's odd that a number of posters on here seem to think that the person who complained should just have kept quiet and not expressed her opinion.

Callistemon

^I'm unfollowing this thread now as I'm finding it deeply upsetting^
Laughing or virtually pointing at me will hopefully stop now


I didn't realise this thread was about you.
I thought it was a debate about whether or not offence-taking, taken to this level, detracts from some very serious issues.

The difference is, some people view all parts of racism as a serious issue, and others view micro aggressions and thoughtlessness as trivial and ridiculous

I'm happy with the original Lemon