These are Italian candies with chocolate inside. You can read a description of them here (scroll down the page quite a bit). I’m not sure what the point of the shiny dot on the forehead is.
Thanks to Denise H. for finding this image!
NEW! Kathleen T. sent in this photo she took in Segovia, Spain, of a popsicle that had a stereotypical Asian figure on it:
Notice that the “Asian” face is in the shape of a lemon; Kathleen suggested that the idea might be “lemon = yellow = Asian.”
Gwen Sharp is an associate professor of sociology at Nevada State College. You can follow her on Twitter at @gwensharpnv.
Comments 6
Richard — January 19, 2008
Gwen,
I think the shiny dot is a shiny
light reflection meant to highlight
the the dark complexion of the faces by way of contrast.
Candy — March 19, 2009
I`ve had these Italian candies before and loved them!
What We’ve Been Up To Behind Your Back (August 2009) » Sociological Images — September 1, 2009
[...] We found a rodent control ad comparing the Chinese to rats and added it to our long list of anti-Chinese propaganda circa 1900. We also added an image of lemon ice cream marketed with a caricatured Asian image to a prior post about Italian candies in a blackface-reminiscent wrapper. [...]
karinova — November 22, 2009
Reminds me of Ferrara Pan's "Lemonheads" candy... which instantly leads me to their "Cherry Clan" candy, which I grew up with and found appalling even at the age of 9 (see both here: http://tinyurl.com/ycawj4u)... which I'm surprised and pleased to see has finally been de-racialized and is now known as "Cherryheads" (http://tinyurl.com/ydfvdq9).
I never noticed at the time, but looking at them now, it seems FP had their offensive color stereotypes all mixed up: the yellow/Lemonheads character seems clearly Caucasian, the red/Cherry Clan are Asian... I seem to recall that they also had "Alexander the Grape," who was blue, of all colors, and wore a centurion's helmet. If they were going to go there, shouldn't yellow=Asian, red=Native American, Greek=green (if you must; also, grapes come in green), and Caucasian=not caricatured at all?! Weird.
Elena — April 1, 2010
The Unilever brand that makes "Lemonissimo" is Frigo, the local name for Langnese. No caricature in the product page, though. Ew.