Eskimo furore

The humble Eskimo lolly will remain on New Zealand shelves though lambasted by a Canadian visitor who claimed the confectionary’s shape and name was a racist slur against the Inuit. Seeka Lee Veevee Parsons, 21, an Inuit from Canada’s Nunavut Territory, told the Taranaki Daily News the word Eskimo, used by confectionery manufacturer Cadbury/Pascall was unacceptable because it had negative racial connotations. In a statement Pascall/Cadbury said Eskimos were “an iconic New Zealand lolly”. The company produced almost 19 million individual Eskimos last year, which made it “one of our most sought after”. Canterbury University’s Dr Nicole Gombay, who studies Inuit politics and culture, says she was shocked to see the Cadbury/Pascall lolly for sale when she arrived in New Zealand three years ago. Dr Gombay said while the sweet’s image — a small snowsuited figure — was “a normal representation” of Inuit culture, it was no longer relevant. “It would be like putting an African in mud hut with a grass skirt and a bone in his head.”