Shut Down the BLACK CODE!
At some point we have to take control of our own destiny and stop being perpetual victims. One of the reasons that people are able to exploit us is because we have little respect for our history. Maybe that is a residual effect of chattel slavery. Maybe it is a function of being the uber-capitalists that we people of color are. Whatever the reason(s) for our plight are, at some point we have to stop blaming miscellaneous white folks. For the most part, white folks are like mice running on the wheel the same as we are. If they don’t pay
their taxes, their asses will get kicked too. If they get so crazy hopped up on GHB while hanging out on a Caribbean island they can become shark meat too.
The first thing that we need to do in our campaign against injustice is for us to read up a bit on our history. This link from Wikipedia is dope because it is hell’a thorough and fascinating. After you read the entry for BLACK CODES I think that you will be as upset as I was the day that I saw the advertisement for this men’s product. To add to my consternation, the ad was placed in the June Father’s Day issue of ESSENCE magazine no less.
Giorgio Armani is going to have to remove this product from all the distributors. Its either that or we boycott EVERYTHING with the Giorgio Armani name. Not just the perfumes that our mothers adore like AQUA Di GIO, but we pull our money away from the metrosexual apparel line ARMANI EXCHANGE. We will no longer allow Giorgio Armani to represent the highest level of fashion design if Giorgio Armani cannot recognize that his products are not exempt from social responsibility.
Can you imagine the fallout that the Armani empire would experience if they named a fragrance ‘Holocaust’, or ‘The Killing Fields’. BLACK CODE is no different. It describes a time in American history when your existence was filled with trepidation and fear if you were of African ancestry. It describes a time when the government openly promoted the disenfranchisement of humans based on one of the most abstract concepts… a person’s skin color.
What would be required for you to take action? Would you be motivated to speak out when Calvin Klein decided to name a new cologne “NIGGER RICH”?!? I am stepping off my soapbox now, but I will leave you with a few e-mail addresses for you to write to. Ask these people why they sell a product that evokes racism and injustice. Let them know how you feel about the BLACK CODE.
craig@perfumeemporium.com
questions@dillards.com
customerservice@sephora.com
parfums@giorgioarmani.it
November 19th, 2005 at 10:00 pm
hello, at my middle school, we have also recognized this problem. We took action and wrote to our local newspaper. The reporter we talked to has spoken to Armani, and has recieved a fax confirming that they are changing the name from “Armani Black Code” to “Armani Code”. Apparently, they have been phazing the change in for months, but we will have to wait and see.
November 20th, 2005 at 11:43 am
hannah,
thank you for your efforts. this was an oversight that a responsible and skilled marketing organization would not have missed.
I will still not support this brand until I am convincedd that I won’t have to see a product like this one from them ever again.
February 16th, 2006 at 9:01 am
I can’t believe how petty and pathetic some people are, why all the fuss it’s only a name and if the name of an aftershave conjure’s up any negative or hatred then those that think this way should realy take a look at themselves.
Political correctness gone mad…… no wonder the world is going bad….
July 22nd, 2006 at 2:28 am
Another “black code”
http://www.yoox.com/item/cod10/36036553/TP/5991
December 25th, 2006 at 11:31 am
Wat a bullshit, this must be another marketing stunt so that the product gets more free attention. How about brands with black in the name, how about the colour of these writings?? You picked this lay out, why not let us type in red, you hipocrit fuck.
Ever thought of the simple innocent coincidence that the chosen brand name is the same as someting from years ago.
So why not show Armani the beautiful existence of http://www.google.com and let them search first on there new chosen name instead of making this attention whore website. You really think they did it on purpose? Do you think the Armani imperium one day just thouht, HEY lets make a racial product, so we lose a lot of customers.
Yes it is verry shitty what happend in the past, but dont dramatically relate it to now a day’s product’s, but rather inform the creators that they made a bad name choise.
I am going to the city now, with some of the last bottle’s Armani Black Code sprayed on me, and I have NOTHING against coloured people.
(By the way, you helped Armani make more profit becouse they dont need to pay for al the Inked that would normaly spell: black. So better start searching for more mistakes they maked, they don’t care
.)
January 1st, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Armani has always been a favorite designer of mine. It seems the best ones always come from Italy!
April 6th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I’m looking for this cologne and cant’ find it anymore — I hope is not because of you!
You had taken offense when there is none. You gave example of “NIGGER RICH” or “Holocaust” as a mean of outrage, but the thing with those examples is that there is no room for interpretation.
In the case of “Armani Black Code”, it’s most likely refer to the black tie or white tie evening dress codes.
April 6th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
justme,
Why don’t you kill yourself at your earliest convenience?
Fuck Armani and his Black Code. I will not accept that brand name in a magazine that is supposed to empower African Americans.
If you don’t know the history of African Americans then you don’t understand my argument. Let the Armani company devise another name for their product. Why not Armani Aushcwitz? Not because of the city’s history during World War II, but because of it’s modern day history as a tourist destination. If you can’t see my point then you ned to kill yourself. The Earth could do better than wasting good oxygen on your carbon footprint.
February 18th, 2009 at 2:15 am
What a bunch of candy asses.
Seriously. It’s just a name. Get the hell over yourself. I don’t get all bent out of shape because the wet floor sign also says piso mojado. Yeah, my great great grandpa may have been Mexican, but I’m an American, living now, and I’m not such a pansy that I get all butt hurt because of words that have nothing to do with anything else.
Because of the dumb masses with their victim mentality, Armani had to change the name and also changed the formula of their stuff. Now I’ll never get lucky. I’m going to be the next 40 year old virgin.
Thanks a pant load!
February 18th, 2009 at 2:55 am
Eff you in the ‘A’ David!
Mexicans weren’t hung from the trees like so-called “strange fruit” because they looked at a white’s bum bum. That shit was happening to Black youths and the Black Code was the justification.
Believe you me, if they made a cologne called “lettuce picker” I wouldn’t support that shit either even if it made my ballsachs smell better than Swiss chard.
March 3rd, 2012 at 3:04 am
At this time it seems like Drupal is the preferred blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?