Premier Ice is not currently considering changing the name “Giant Eskimo”. Hansen’s Ice Cream has otherwise changed.
Denmark’s largest ice cream producer, Premier Is, which also owns Hjem-IS, sticks to the name “Kæmpe Eskimo” for its chocolate-coated blackcurrant ice cream.
This is what commercial director Claus Dahlmann Larsen informs Ritzau, after Hansen Is has chosen to change the name of its counterpart, as it can be perceived as offensive.
– For us, “Giant Eskimo” is nostalgia and the name of an ice cream that consumers love and have made for really, really many years. It does not intend to offend or offend.
And we have not received any inquiries at all about it. If we were to get it from associations or population groups that they find it offensive, then we will consider it again. But in the short run, the answer is no, says the commercial director.
In the wake of the assassination of George Floyd
As protests and a popular movement in the US have put greater focus on potentially offensive names and statues, the debate about the “Giant Eskimo” ice has also risen in Denmark. The protests erupted after the death of black American George Floyd in connection with his arrest.
According to the Danish Dictionary, “Eskimo” refers to persons “who belong to one of the original Asian peoples who inhabit the Arctic regions in Greenland”. Here, however, it is stated that the word may seem offensive and that “Inuit” is preferred by the people, who are also in northern Canada, Alaska and parts of Siberia.
In late June, the debate was raised for the first time when the manufacturer Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream in the United States changed the name of the ice cream “Eskimo Pie”. In this connection, both Rema 1000 and Frisko said that they were not about to change the name.
Will change name to O’Payo
On Monday, according to TV2, ice cream maker Hansens said they would change the name to O’Payo.
– It is a big decision for us, and associated with a certain amount of sadness, but we are certainly not too proud to let ourselves be informed and look at how we act responsibly in our time, said sales director in Hansen’s Anders Eibye Hansen to TV2.
Claus Dahlmann Larsen from Premier Is says that the company follows the debate and will listen if there are any inquiries.
– We call ourselves the whole of Denmark’s ice cream parlor. It commits, even when it comes to being diverse and embracing everyone. That is why we also focus on not violating or being exclusive, he says.
Source: nyheder.tv2.dk
