Debt, Aid And Race

Published June 22, 2005

"We are very sorry and apologize to viewers and other people who felt offended," announced the Japanese cosmetics firm Mandom early this month, but mass ritual suicide would have been a more appropriate form of apology. The company had aired a TV commercial that showed several black people wiping the sweat from their brows with a Mandom facial wipe while a chimpanzee wearing an afro wig imitated them.

Meanwhile,...