UPDATE: AriZona Kills Sweet Southern Tea Label

Looks like the AriZona beverage maker has decided to ditch the label on their Southern Style Sweet Tea after an e-mail chain letter interpreted the packaging as "racist."

Now, the New York-based soft drink maker plans to roll out a new label, seen on the right.

Issuing this statement on their Web site, AriZona Beverage Co. said, "The
dialogue helped us to understand the problem and move forward to correct it."

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There has been a series of chain letter e-mails going around (my in-box included) asking to boycott the AriZona soft drink maker because someone interpreted the picture on the can of its 'Southern Style Sweet Tea' as a symbol of slavery.

Here's the best version of the letter I could find ...

"Read this as a Proud Black person and forward this to every Black Person you know! ... When did Slavery become marketable? I'm calling for a nation-wide boycott on a drink company named "Arizona" ... 'Arizona' has a flavor known as "Southern Style Sweet Tea," but if you look closely on the front of the can, there is a picture of a Plantation! Yes ,I said a Plantation, with a white couple on the porch and a black woman dressed like Aunt Jemima walking away from the house.

So, is this what Bill O'Reilly was talking about last year with his "MF'n Ice Tea" remark?

This reminds me of the Snapple controversy a few years back, where people said that there were slave ships on the bottles and the company was being run by the KKK. Or what about the rumors that Coors, KFC, Tropical Fantasy, Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew all put chemicals in their products to make black men sterile.

See a common thread? Part of me understands how this idea got started. Naturally, African Americans are apprehensive whenever they come across big white houses reminiscent of a plantation. Second, we've had to put up with this kind of crap before, with Black people being poorly portrayed on products, such as Uncle Ben's Rice, Aunt Jemima, and that Cream of Wheat dude.

But, the big question is whether or not the woman on the can is of African descent. It's really hard to tell at first and AriZona says no way.

The drink maker claims "The art does not translate the same due to limits in printing technology and the limit on the number of colors our can supplier can work with at the same time."

AriZona also attached a larger version of the picture, seen above, which does look different, but corresponds with their statement.

Just to make sure they really get on top of the rumors, they added this little nugget for good measure:

Racism in any form is a blight on mankind that must be opposed whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head. Because good people of all backgrounds rightfully reject this dreadful practice and shun those who spread messages of intolerance, we must first be sure that the label fits before we accuse. ...

I see a white woman on the can in the red dress which kind of kills the whole conspiracy for me.

There's nothing wrong with addressing racism in any form and lord knows it's still very prevalent, but at the same time, people shouldn't jump to boycott something as ambiguous as the alleged color of a woman on a can at least without digging deeper.

Now, if there was only an e-mail chain letter that could so effectively mobilize our people when it really mattered.