Boxpark is facing claims of racism after circulating an artist’s impression of its new south London mall that apparently shows no ethnic minorities.
I’m astonished they’d risk being sued under the Advertising Standards Authority legislation…
But a revised image on the designers’ website shows several black and Asian people added at a later stage.
Only ‘several’..?
Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell told the Standard: “I think the fact Boxpark is coming to Croydon is really great, but quite often we get advertising that doesn’t reflect the reality that Croydon is one of the most diverse parts of the capital.
“That’s a shame and this isn’t the only example I’ve seen.”
Mr Barwell, who at one time sat on the all-party parliamentary group on race, added:
“One of the real strengths of Croydon as a place is the incredible mix of people. People from all over the world live here.
“It would be great if they used the version that reflects that.”
But then they might not get any visitors…
Oliver Richards’s post, shared hundreds of times, captions the picture: “According to this mock-up of the Croydon Boxpark, massive ethnic cleansing is going to take place before opening in 2016.”
Others labelled it “institutionalised racism” and observed: “NONE of these ‘what it might look like’ things ever seems to have a black person in them!”
Tatiana May commented: “How could they not have thought of this?”
Chris O’Donnell added: “Not a true representation of Croydon, but a glimpse into its gentrification. Just like everywhere else the real people are being forced out by new developments and unaffordable housing.”
And Angela Keating wrote: “Seriously, where the blacks at?”
Indika Sarathchandra asked: “Are us ethnics going to be served eviction notices?”
Interesting that only ethnic minorities are considered ‘real people’, eh?
You'd either have to be a special kind of stupid or the kind of 21st century warrior who goes actively searching for reasons to become a victim to look at a bland artist's impression of a proposed new development and draw inferences from the faces of the people depicted therein. Much less read sinister implications into it.
ReplyDeleteThe fact is that these drawings (much like passport designs) are done by normal people who genuinely have better things to do than count penises or ensure an appropriate distribution of skin tones. Because these things don't actually matter. Not to normal people anyway.
I thought Croydon was in Surrey; now it's in London.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the illustration was at 0900am and the 'ethniks' were still abed or queuing up elsewhere for their Giro cheques. Now if they did a poster of the Post Office.....
ReplyDeleteGavin Barwell MP - a Conservative, naturally.
ReplyDeleteIf I was the boss of Boxpark, after this load of BS I`d tell Croydon to go to hell and I`d take my new premises elsewhere,let the ethnics provide their own jobs and services.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I went through Croydon I deliberately chose the scenic route, up through the beautiful Surrey hills. You could tell how much closer you were getting by the growing resemblance of the surroundings to Beirut at its worst, complete with the boarded-up windows and shuffling, shambling drug-eyed inhabitants from all four corners of the world (except England).
ReplyDeleteIt is, without doubt, one of the worst places in Britain: violent, filthy, ugly and without, as far as I am aware, any saving graces. The last thing it needs is another shopping mall. Flattening and reclaiming as farmland would be far more appropriate.
Just how dumb can these twits show themselves to be?
ReplyDeleteThe CAD programs that produce these drawings have standard anonymous blocks of figures to represent scale to a drawing. How the professionally offended see those anonymous figures is all in their mind and if they had more than one brain cell they would realise that.
Ivan, maybe the architects are so behind the curve that they are still using Letraset figures on their nicely airbrushed drawings. Letraset's negroes were quite unrecognisable as people. Life's like that.
ReplyDeleteYou need to bring back the V1s. They did quite a bit of clearing in Croydon back in WW2.
ReplyDelete"Because these things don't actually matter. Not to normal people anyway."
ReplyDeleteSpot on!
"Gavin Barwell MP - a Conservative, naturally."
Of a sort, anyway.
"You could tell how much closer you were getting by the growing resemblance of the surroundings to Beirut at its worst..."
I drove through once, too. As fast as traffic allowed, with the doors locked & the windows rolled up.
"The CAD programs that produce these drawings have standard anonymous blocks of figures to represent scale to a drawing. "
Cue campaign to demand a racial mix in all CAD programs!
Sounds like the developers had been watching that Kevin Costner movie about baseball; the 'Field of Dreams' one; where the dead guys all state, "Build it; and they will come!"
ReplyDeleteI reckon those guys who complained about the 'lack of diversity' are only doing so because they now 'know' that 'Multiculturalism' rules in the UK, and it should therefore be seen to be ruling in everything, including computerised drawings of a future shopping mall.
Silly, stupid clowns are we, for even allowing this type of 'thought police' to take root in what was once a green and pleasant land!