A hate campaign on social media has been sparked by an advertisement by a Slovak firm selling sports clothing in which a dark-skinned man is featured. The business has stood up for the black model.
The case is similar to one in the Czech Republic, where a black model was featured in a flier advertising the international retail chain Lidl, with a similar response. “The person in our photo is our good friend Dennis. He’s a European like you. He has a college education, a physique like you never will have, and a beautiful wife (who is blonde and white). We chose Dennis for our team because of his fantastic physique and his sports achievements,” wrote Martin Pecko, director of the Slovak firm Nebbia, in response to the racist commentaries.
Dennis Johans, age 28, was born in Kenya, has grown up in Norway since the age of two, and has collaborated with the Slovak company before. Pecko said the firm was disappointed by the racist commentaries.
The business has been on the market since 1997. “If there are people among us who have a different skin color than you, and who work 10 hours a day, and who train much harder than you, and who live according to the rules of this society, you have no right to express yourself like that about them!!! Racism has no place in sport or anywhere else,” Pecko has written online.
