Red Ripperz (formerly Redskins or Red Skins) are a red, raspberry-flavoured chewy confectionery manufactured in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

under their Allen's brand. The confectionery is sold as elongated bars which are individually twist-wrapped in paper, weighing approximately 10

gram The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a Physical unit, unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined in 1795 as "the absolute Mass versus weight, weight of a volume ...

s each, although smaller sizes exist.

Branding controversy

Redskin Redskin is a slang term for Native Americans in the United States and First Nations in Canada. The term ''redskin'' underwent pejoration through the 19th to early 20th centuries and in contemporary dictionaries of American English, it is l ...

' has been considered a racist term for Native Americans and First Nations Canadians since at least the 1800s. In 1996, a complaint was made to the New Zealand Advertising Standards Complaints Board about a Redskins advertisement aired on New Zealand television. The advertisement featured comedian Mark Wright dressed in Native American clothing and assuming an accent. A mock drumbeat featured on the soundtrack. Despite protest from Nestlé New Zealand that the advertisement was inoffensive, the board upheld the complaint. Red Skins packaging formerly featured a drawing of a Native American wearing a traditional headdress. This was replaced in the late 1990s by a more neutral red character. In June 2020, along with Chicos, Nestlé announced that the name will be changed to "represent the inclusive nature of modern society". The company said the decision was made to ensure "nothing we do marginalises our friends, neighbours and colleagues". The statement added "these names have overtones which are out of step with Nestle's values, which are rooted in respect." The announcement of a name change occurred in the wake of widespread name changes following the George Floyd protests. On 16 November 2020, Nestlé announced that the new name for Red Skins would be ''Red Ripper''. Packaging bearing the new name would be available in stores in early 2021. However, rebranding has been controversial as ‘Red Ripper’ was a name for Soviet serial killer

Andrei Chikatilo Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo (; ; 16 October 1936 – 14 February 1994) was a Ukrainian-born Soviet serial killer nicknamed "the Butcher of Rostov", "the Rostov Ripper", and "the Red Ripper" who sexual assault, sexually assaulted, murdered, and ...

. The product was eventually released with the name ''Red Ripperz''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Redskins (Confectionery) The Willy Wonka Candy Company brands Nestlé brands Australian confectionery Brand name confectionery Australian brands Candy Name changes due to the George Floyd protests Native American-related controversies Race-related controversies in advertising and marketing

Branding controversy

See also

References