Krispy Kreme apologises for featuring racial slur in ad campaign

Krispy Kreme has issued an apology after featuring a racial slur in one of their advertising campaigns, developed by creative agency Abel.

The Australia-New Zealand branch of the famous doughnut brand released a series of photos to celebrate people coming together for big celebrations.

In the snaps, the letter "o" was replaced with their famed sweet treats, including in "footy" and "movie".

However, there was one image that has since been pulled for obvious reasons. It read "congratulations" with additional "o" letters, creating a highly offensive racial slur.

Krispy Kreme's ANZ marketing director has since shared a statement apologising on behalf of the company.

"We never intended to offend any person or group," they said. "We are sorry for the oversight and have removed all congratulations related ads from the campaign."

Anti-racism campaigner Dr Stephen Hagan went on to tell Mumbrella: "As the originator of changing the C**n Cheese brand to Cheer, it’s an absolute disgrace that in 2023, someone thinks they can come up with an… ad like that on a product that is very popular with people of colour.

"The word has put my family and my people through so much trauma and it’s just disgraceful to see this happening."

Indy100 reached out to Krispy Kreme for comment.

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