I then read about Naomi's apparent fury about Cadbury's newest advert, branding them racist.
The 39 year-old supermodel is supposedly offended that the chocolate company used her name in an ad for their Dairy Milk Bliss bar.
Speaking directly to The Independent of her shock and upset to be 'described as chocolate, not just for herself but for all black women and black people', she is reportedly considering 'every option available' after Cadbury initially refused to block the ad.
Activist groups in the U.K are said to be calling for a boycott on the brand; a ludicrous attempt to exempt the long-standing chocolate company from the market.
Is it me, or does this just scream 'attention-seeking' and 'I haven't done any projects lately, what an easy way to make some cash'?
I can't condone racism, but I also can't stand it when the term is used for actions that clearly aren't racist.
It becomes a sad day when marketing groups have to pull good adverts or review projects, purely on the basis that somebody may cry 'racist'.
It's clearly not a racist or vindictive advert, merely highlighting a well-known fact that Naomi Campbell is a control-freak, over-paid diva, and using it to invoke humour and familiarity within an advertising campaign.
A spokesperson for Cadbury insists that even though the ad was a 'light-hearted take on the social pretensions of Cadbury Dairy Milk Bliss, the ad was no longer in circulation'.
Had the ad been based on white chocolate, Naomi would not have a leg to stand on and everybody would see it as a dig at her bad publicity and image, but instead of seeing the humour in it, she thought straight away of colour. Surely by making these ads, the company itself is reflecting the lack of thought they put into skin-tone and colour and more the idea of familiarising the hottest new snack to one of the world's hottest super-stars, and Naomi is being over-sensitive.
If Cadbury had any idea of the allegations that could have been made against them, I'm sure several of their officials wouldn't have given it the green light.
"Racism in the playground starts with black children being called 'chocolate bar'. At best, this is insensitive, and at worst it demonstrates Cadbury's utter disregard for causing offence," a member of the Operation Black Vote said. "Its lack of apology just adds insult to injury. The Eurocentric joke is not funny to black people."
I have run this storyline past black, white and asian friends, all of whom have sputtered at the sheer indignity of her reaction to what the majority of us see as another one of Cadbury's 'weird, yet wonderful' adverts.
In hind-sight, with so much political correctness flying around, it surprises me that Cadbury did not foresee this. Whether they were oblivious to the scandal it could cause, or indifferent to it due to the innocent view in which they were conducting it, it was clearly a mistake they must now deal with.
In other news, Lewis Hamilton has also apologised for his 'maybe it's because I'm black' quip, quoting a famous Ali-G slogan, when speaking of the stewards' decision to penalise him twice.
What's with all the sensitivity? It was clearly said in jest, and like Cadbury's, a foolish judgement on his part to make such a comment. Having cameras in your face, the adrenaline of just racing, not to mention the emotions he was feeling at the time, makes us all awkward at times, often resulting in saying the wrong thing.
If surrounded by friends, he would probably have been comfortable with joking about something similar to this, as many people of black origin do. It was naive of him to believe he could approach the public with the same light-hearted attitude, but that was his only crime.
The public can't critisize Naomi Campbell, which they have, for being 'too sensitive' and in the same breath condemn Lewis Hamilton for being the opposite.
Both Cadbury and Lewis Hamilton have acted foolishly, but it comes down to us as a society that issues like these are still raised.
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