Posted on November 30, 2007 - by Justin Hartman
What sort of message is this?
Earlier this month Pick n Pay spent a bucket-load of money on a new corporate identity. Groogle was perplexed as to why the R110 million didn’t include a re-branding of the Pick n Pay website which did seem strange at the time.
I’m pleased to say that Pick n Pay finally got their act together and their new website, with new Flickr-clone logo, has been launched.
Only one small problem – seems like Pick n Pay don’t think white people matter anymore.
Have a look at the old banner below (thanks Groogle):
And now look at the new one (thanks to Nic for pointing this out):
That’s a real kick in the teeth if you ask me! Not only did Pick n Pay feel the need to spend the R110 million in the United Kingdom and deprive this economy of some much needed cash but they also decided to exclude all white people from their demographic makeup.
Inspired by you? Whatever…
43 Comments
I'd love to hear yours!
I am a seasoned entrepreneur and currently the CEO of 
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November 30, 2007
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Kinda gives a whole new meaning to the term “white space”!
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November 30, 2007
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November 30, 2007
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“Let’s mos just take the white chick out, then we donts haves to worry about re-doing the strapline”
- “Ya, schweet idea… I’ll use this lekker new program I got wiff windows 95… Paint!”
This is probably how the conversation went at the UK agency that did it. (chances are the guys were saffa anyway, hence the accents)
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November 30, 2007
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I have it on good authority that the PnP website and all their digital properties are about to recieve major overhauls.
not a moment too soon me thinks!
maybe they’ll nuke that Pick n play site too..
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November 30, 2007
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Too much of that politically correct nonsense, someone is taking this Black empowerment stuff too far. Tghe faster they overhaul this the better.
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November 30, 2007
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I used to have great respect for PnP but these recent moves are rather strange. Its really amusing reading about all these takes on their new image.
Now for step 2 – Afrigator report [the one you mentioned] on all the talk about it in the blogosphere. Even if PnP won’t pay for it [doesn't fit into the R110m budget, I guess], but I’m sure there are many other companies who would gladly pay just to learn from their mistakes. I think they’d be silly not to.
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November 30, 2007
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So you’re saying that if the black face was chosen to go, Pick n Pay wouldn’t care about black people, or if the brown face had to go, Pick n Pay wouldn’t care about brown people?
Counting by colour in rugby teams, cricket teams, soccer teams, management teams… and now faces in a Pick n Pay logo! It seems South Africa has a long way to go before its people are rid of the poison of seeing everything by the old racial categories.
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November 30, 2007
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Ian I probably would’ve complained yes. Point is, this is a blatant change that falls right into the stereo-typical society we now live in. We simply can’t ignore these issues especially when a large corporate like Pick n Pay are so obvious about their intentions.
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November 30, 2007
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i’ll have to agree with Ian
i mean,,, comeon peeps??
it’s just a logo for a damn grocery store man?
which by the way (i think PnP spent way too much bux on a logo which used the Facebook fonts …)
did anybody actually notice it?
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November 30, 2007
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I don’t think this has anything to do with race. They were just super lazy because the previous strap line went over the white women and instead of editing just the strap line it was easier to just remove her altogether. I hope they didn’t pay too much for this blatant display of ineptitude. (sheesh… big word for the day achieved!
)
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November 30, 2007
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Grant I disagree completely with you as I believe it is about race. Look at this image:
http://justinhartman.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/picture-3.png
I’ve used a ruler to measure the exact dimensions of the old image and the proportion to where the woman was. In the image you can see that there was plenty of white space (thanks coda) to keep the woman there.
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November 30, 2007
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And sorry, to further substantiate this check at this one:
http://justinhartman.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/pnp-new.png
Original image of the people added on top of the new header.
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November 30, 2007
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Justin- Sure there was enough space, however viewing from someone who has zero knowledge of photoshop (ie. me and whoever did the adjustments):
Is it easier to edit the picture of the women to remove the ‘ality‘ from her, or just remove her completely.
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November 30, 2007
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Its is totally about race dimensions has got nothing to do with this. Coz they picked a new tagline which left enough whitespace.
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November 30, 2007
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@Maritim that’s just as good as coda’s comment on the white space
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November 30, 2007
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Grant’s right – the person responsible for making the changes probably didn’t have the original artwork or the know-how to edit out the old tagline. I really can’t imagine a call being made to “ditch that white chick, she isn’t our target market”. And besides, if it’s a race thing, where were the Indian or Asian faces in the first place?
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November 30, 2007
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Kinda gives a whole new meaning to the term “white space”!
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
Permalink
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
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Guys, what is this constant obsession with race about?
It looks like you are focussing on the small things in life….
Having spend over a decade abroad I find it sad the way locals are always looking at things either offensively or defensively.
Can you not simply let it be and move on?
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
Permalink
“Let's mos just take the white chick out, then we donts haves to worry about re-doing the strapline”
- “Ya, schweet idea… I'll use this lekker new program I got wiff windows 95… Paint!”
This is probably how the conversation went at the UK agency that did it. (chances are the guys were saffa anyway, hence the accents)
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
Permalink
I have it on good authority that the PnP website and all their digital properties are about to recieve major overhauls.
not a moment too soon me thinks!
maybe they'll nuke that Pick n play site too..
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
Permalink
Too much of that politically correct nonsense, someone is taking this Black empowerment stuff too far. Tghe faster they overhaul this the better.
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
Permalink
I used to have great respect for PnP but these recent moves are rather strange. Its really amusing reading about all these takes on their new image.
Now for step 2 – Afrigator report [the one you mentioned] on all the talk about it in the blogosphere. Even if PnP won't pay for it [doesn't fit into the R110m budget, I guess], but I'm sure there are many other companies who would gladly pay just to learn from their mistakes. I think they'd be silly not to.
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
Permalink
So you're saying that if the black face was chosen to go, Pick n Pay wouldn't care about black people, or if the brown face had to go, Pick n Pay wouldn't care about brown people?
Counting by colour in rugby teams, cricket teams, soccer teams, management teams… and now faces in a Pick n Pay logo! It seems South Africa has a long way to go before its people are rid of the poison of seeing everything by the old racial categories.
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
Permalink
Ian I probably would've complained yes. Point is, this is a blatant change that falls right into the stereo-typical society we now live in. We simply can't ignore these issues especially when a large corporate like Pick n Pay are so obvious about their intentions.
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
Permalink
i'll have to agree with Ian
i mean,,, comeon peeps??
it's just a logo for a damn grocery store man?
which by the way (i think PnP spent way too much bux on a logo which used the Facebook fonts …)
did anybody actually notice it?
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
Permalink
I don't think this has anything to do with race. They were just super lazy because the previous strap line went over the white women and instead of editing just the strap line it was easier to just remove her altogether. I hope they didn't pay too much for this blatant display of ineptitude. (sheesh… big word for the day achieved!
)
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
Permalink
Grant I disagree completely with you as I believe it is about race. Look at this image:
http://justinhartman.com/wp-content/uploads/200…
I've used a ruler to measure the exact dimensions of the old image and the proportion to where the woman was. In the image you can see that there was plenty of white space (thanks coda) to keep the woman there.
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
Permalink
And sorry, to further substantiate this check at this one:
http://justinhartman.com/wp-content/uploads/200…
Original image of the people added on top of the new header.
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
Permalink
Justin- Sure there was enough space, however viewing from someone who has zero knowledge of photoshop (ie. me and whoever did the adjustments):
Is it easier to edit the picture of the women to remove the 'ality' from her, or just remove her completely.
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
Permalink
Its is totally about race dimensions has got nothing to do with this. Coz they picked a new tagline which left enough whitespace.
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
Permalink
@Maritim that's just as good as coda's comment on the white space
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
Permalink
Grant's right – the person responsible for making the changes probably didn't have the original artwork or the know-how to edit out the old tagline. I really can't imagine a call being made to “ditch that white chick, she isn't our target market”. And besides, if it's a race thing, where were the Indian or Asian faces in the first place?
Visit My Website
November 30, 2007
Permalink
Guys, what is this constant obsession with race about?
It looks like you are focussing on the small things in life….
Having spend over a decade abroad I find it sad the way locals are always looking at things either offensively or defensively.
Can you not simply let it be and move on?
Visit My Website
December 1, 2007
Permalink
And here I am feeling guilty because if they are inspired by me I must be doing a terrible job. Most of the Pick n Pay staff I come across are distinctly uninspired, morose and real civil service quality …
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December 1, 2007
Permalink
Dudes, you’re all too sensitive about this. Really, it does not matter! What does matter is that Checkers sells Stormhoek! Now thats a good reason for anyone to stop shopping at PnP and start shopping at Checkers!
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December 1, 2007
Permalink
And here I am feeling guilty because if they are inspired by me I must be doing a terrible job. Most of the Pick n Pay staff I come across are distinctly uninspired, morose and real civil service quality …
Visit My Website
December 1, 2007
Permalink
Dudes, you're all too sensitive about this. Really, it does not matter! What does matter is that Checkers sells Stormhoek! Now thats a good reason for anyone to stop shopping at PnP and start shopping at Checkers!
Visit My Website
December 3, 2007
Permalink
Guys…..really, get over yourselves and your over analytical small minded opinions. Check out the site http://www.pnp.co.za – there are no people in the logo!!
You people take the first opportunity to demolish a brand. South Africans are fickle – and while we enjoy freedom of speech, we only create pessimistic impressions. Gee thanks to PNP for even trying to better themselves for the greater public. Get a grip people
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December 3, 2007
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[...] automatically get notified when I post a new blog entry. Thanks for visiting!On Friday I wrote the following post in which I criticised Pick n Pay for allegedly removing the white woman from their banner when they [...]
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December 3, 2007
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Guys…..really, get over yourselves and your over analytical small minded opinions. Check out the site http://www.pnp.co.za – there are no people in the logo!!
You people take the first opportunity to demolish a brand. South Africans are fickle – and while we enjoy freedom of speech, we only create pessimistic impressions. Gee thanks to PNP for even trying to better themselves for the greater public. Get a grip people
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December 4, 2007
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I found this post and this entire discussion hilarious. Grant’s right, there’s no malice here, they were just super lazy!
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December 4, 2007
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I found this post and this entire discussion hilarious. Grant's right, there's no malice here, they were just super lazy!