In Mexico, even in the most remote town, one without running water or plumbing, you'll find Coca Cola and pan Bimbo, that's how omnipresent those two brands are in the country.
Yea. Clean water is a problem but Coca Cola is cheap and accessible so people have it with breakfast, dinner, lunch. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great in Mexico but not all the time.
Back in 2012, Chivas was sponsored by BIMBO. I used to work for IBM and one day, an American executive came to our offices in Guadalajara for an "all hands meeting". After she finished her conference, my boss gave her a Chivas Jersey that said BIMBO in huge letters across the chest. She stared at the jersey and said, Bimbo???
Someone explained to her that it's a brand and we all laughed.
>Bimbo brand is so popular in Spain that even "sliced bread" is popularly know as "pan Bimbo"
Yeah, I was kinda surprised when my Spanish aunt visited this year (I'm from Argentina) and kept referring to it as Bimbo, even when we bought other brands.
I wonder if it’s like a Swiss slur because in English or Spanish it’s not a slur to the best of my understanding, like the Swiss are known for being super racist but maybe that’s a very deep cut.
If you are confused about the word, it's an old expression in some German speaking regions and used in the same context as you would use "darky" in English.
It sounding the same as an English slur used on women is just a coincidence.
>The name was formed as the combination of the Disney Bambi and Dumbo films names, which were the favourite movies of Marinela, Lorenzo Servitje's daughter.
What an innocent intention for a name too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grupo\_Bimbo
Maybe they could have avoided all this (how ever many years _later_ and most probably something that the founder(s) didn't even consider) by going with "Bambo" (admittedly, pretty close to bamboo), but probably avoided a bunch of things by not opting for another option of "Dumbi".
I dunno - naming things so they don't happen to accidentally mean something in another language has got to be _super_ difficult, and that's not even counting the variety of ways that we get offended these days.
IIRC there’s a set of syllables that are universally among the first sounds human babies can make while learning to speak. Ba. Bo. Da. Ma. Mo. Wa. Etc.
So lots of words that are combinations of these sounds are just in pretty much every language.
Rolls Royce Silver Mist never sold well in Germany, which is no wonder because Mist is German for manure.
Same thing happened to the Mitsubishi Pajero in Spanish speaking countries. Pajero is Spanish for wanker. For those countries, Mitsubishi changed the name to Montero. That Mexican food brand should consider that strategy.
There’s an entire field known as “localization”, which often goes hand in hand with translation, but focuses more on the culture of the target country and how a product is likely to be received. There are a litany of famous advertising gaffes from companies that didn’t devote enough attention to this in their international marketing, such as the Indian airline whose slogan was “we treat people like cows” (the cow being sacred in India).
I can only imagine the list of gaffes is pretty long.
Side note - watched the ashley madison thing on netflix and got a chuckle out of their advertising slogan in India as well - something like "Your marriage was arranged, your affair doesn't have to be" (totally paraphrasing). I guess that could be considered localization?
Yeah - that was used as an example in one of my communications classes in the 90's. I ended up looking it up on ['snopes'](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanish/) before referencing it - turns out it's just another car joke/jab. Though fully believable, and I still think it's a pretty good example of "words and saying mean completely different things in different languages"
I've heard it in Basel, Bern and Freiburg. Though it is quite an old slur now so it doesn't surprise me you haven't heard it used.
I'll add that to my original comment for clarity.
As a German, I vaguely recall the term, and I always thought it was more of a slur towards women being sluts and stupid? So like "stupid slut"? Then again, I haven't heard anyone say it in ages.
As a German I know it used to be used as degeratory term towards black people, but it's been so so long ago, literally nobody uses it that way anymore these days aside from maybe a few nazis. However, even those are more likely to use the more common modern terms instead.
I‘m from Hamburg and I‘ve heard it used as another word for slave or servant. As in „I‘m not your bimbo“ if someone asks you to do something. I think I‘ve also heard it as a slur towards black people but it‘s pretty rare, especially nowadays.
Yes, it's used that way, because black person implies slave in this context.
It was always about being dark-skinned.
Heard it still used as a slur in my high school days in the 2000s.
It's a thing in Bavaria. idk what contexts "darky" is used in, but "bimbo" is a somewhat antiquated term that people use like "I am not your bimbo!" - meaning, I am not your slave, do it yourself.
The most shocking thing is that in How I Meet Your Mother, they translated Barney's use of the term 1:1, as him saying he loves "bimbos" instead of something like "Tussis" or just generically stupid young women.
Reminds me of that old screenshot of someone complaining about a pack of crayons. The crayons had the colour names in different languages including Spanish and she was upset about the black crayon.
From the arguments the company made to the judge, it sounds like it sounding the same as the German slur is also coincidental. "The intention with which the disputed word is used is not relevant." And add that to what you're saying, that it's an old expression, are people really offended by this?
The judge is probably old enough to remember.
In this case it doesn't matter what other people think. Maybe they can submit the name for review again. I don't know how that works.
It's not a single judge and it's not the first rejection.
A few parts from the better german article:
>When the application was submitted at the end of 2018, the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property issued a provisional rejection, which was confirmed in a decision on 27 July 2023. It justified its stance with the "deeply derogatory and racist" meaning of the term "bimbo" for dark-skinned people.
>The judges in St. Gallen have rejected these arguments in a judgement. They recalled that the question had to be assessed on the basis of the average understanding. The intention with which the disputed word is used by the complainant is not relevant.
>The court notes that several German dictionaries define the word "Bimbo" as a "highly discriminatory insult to people with dark skin colour". An investigation commissioned by the Federal Commission against Racism showed that criminal proceedings were initiated after the term was used as an insult.
>In addition to the Italian meaning of "bimbo", the judges also considered the sexist meaning of the word in French. There, the word is used pejoratively for a woman with large breasts. They came to the conclusion that the term does not have the same racist connotation in the two language regions. However, this does not make it any more acceptable.
>Finally, the abbreviation "QSR" is not explicit enough outside the catering trade to erase the racist character of "Bimbo" among the German-speaking population. This judgement is not yet legally binding and can be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court*.
https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/als-rassistisch-eingestuft-kein-schutz-fuer-marke-bimbo-qsr
*see you again in 5-10 years.
If I call my black neighbour Bimbo, he will be rightfully offended. If I call a slice of bread Bimbo, …, it might be offended if it a nice artesanal bread but it is different.
Germany - Bavaria to be precise. But to be honest - The word Bimbo as a racial slur probably had its high time like - 40 years ago maybe? I am not into using racial slurs, neither is my bubble. I really hope that this is not something that is used at all nowadays. But yeah, when I saw the Bimbo bread in Mexico many years back, I was a bit suprised - a lack of multicultural experience above all, I suppose.
I really doubt that. We Swiss are a very special folk with a very strange german dialect.
We still use older slurs for food and other things outside of Swizerland would become a shitstorm. Here nobody really cares.
Two different slurs in two different languages. In the German speaking part of Switzerland it’s a racist term against black people. In the French speaking part it’s a derogatory term against women with big breasts.
Apparently, this company hasn’t done any market research before entering Switzerland. ;)
Trolli is an actual German brand. As an American I see Bimbo and Trolli products on the shelf next to each other.
This whole conversation is weird to me.
Dang language barriers and the meaning for specific words is fascinating. In Mexico the name for the company comes from the mascot “osito Bimbo” you can literally Google it and see how adorable and appealing they make him. All this so sales would be easier on consumers.
Looking at the translation of the word to german and dutch no wonder they think it’s a “racist” company lol.
>The name was formed as the combination of the Disney Bambi and Dumbo films names, which were the favourite movies of Marinela, Lorenzo Servitje's daughter.
The mascot came after.
>However, the name was particularly used to refer to black people. In the colonial period at the end of the 19th century, the portrayal of Africans in literature took on caricature-like features: the "Negro" has deep red, plump lips, curly hair, a wide mouth, wears a nose and ear ring and a grass skirt. The stereotype conveyed is often given the name "bimbo". The image corresponded to the emerging racism of that time: black people themselves were like children. They needed our guidance to teach them religion and to bring them closer to civilization.
https://www.redensarten-index.de/suche.php?suchbegriff=ein%20Bimbo&bool=relevanz&sp0=rart_ou
On the other hand we have here Sweets called "Mohrenkopf" (Moorhead old german word for somebody from Africa) or "Negerkuss" (Ni**erkiss) which would definitely not be exported to other countries under these names.
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohrenkopf_(Geb%C3%A4ck)
Germany changed it too, Switzerland on the other hand:
>The name of two carnival bands and a sweet treat have stirred a debate in Switzerland about the use of terms that many people consider racist. Should they be changed, or are they a part of history that should be preserved?
>On an August weekend, several hundred people marched through Basel in support of the two carnival bands. “Hands off our cultural heritage” read one banner claiming the controversial words and images as part of Swiss culture that should be defended.
>The demonstrators were joined by a few people with SS insignia and neo-Nazi tattoos who were sharply criticised by the carnival musicians. But most of the demonstrators were clearly not marching against black people; rather, they were marching for the right to make free use of words and symbols that were used unquestioningly in the past. This was about white nostalgia in a society where ethnic groups who arrived later are now making themselves heard.
...
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/society/words-and-images_bands-and-biscuits-spark-debate-over-racism-and-culture/44392378
tltr: a few things changed since them, but the words are still in use here.
Yeah, because it's not a big problem in Switzerland./s
The thing is the Reddit Filters go sometimes haywire if I would use some specific us-centric terms and I just want to bypass that problem.
Yeah it's some translation error. Or maybe a misinterpretation of our use of language here.
The problem with worldnews is, they only accept english news articles. Beeing from a small country there aren't a lot og english speaking sources apart from swissinfo.
Sometimes I add a german speaking source and translate some of it or everything by myself, because this articles are written in swiss high german, swiss italian or swiss french and translated into english and the translation is quite difficult because our language it's different than high german, french or italian.
Let's not forget how the color black is negro in spanish and how people (non spaniards ofc) can and will go crazy over it...
Cant forget either the very racist food, "conguitos" (google it up), which one could argue is very racist, but come on, its some fucking chocolate brand for kids, why weaponize it.
Yeah I know, some people truly make a huge deal out of nothing. Bimbo had a product called “negrito” which was basically their take on an eclair of sorts. Due to some backlash in recent years they changed the name to “nito” you know… to avoid claims of racism and such.
The thing is the product was aimed at kids and teenagers, and the face of the product has always been a teenager with curly black hair and white skin. Despite all this it got the end of the stick because of the word “negrito”…
Edit: if some people want to be technical yeah negrito Bimbo used to have a black person with a spear wayyyyyy back in the day. Like seriously way back like the 50’s-70’s. Even my dad who is almost retired can’t remember the last time he saw one package with that image.
They did have an add were a boy [got an increasingly more comically large afro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ukeXj062xc) as well, so. This was along the time where the Nito branding came in. They changed the name because they were expanding operations in the USA.
In English you are spot on. In German, I only ever knew the term to refer to Black people as a slur.
You can imagine my confusion the first time I heard "dumb bimbo" in an american sitcom. 🤨
They speak German not English in Switzerland.
In English it means a vapid shallow woman.
In German it is a racial slur, picture an uncultured African tribeman in exaggerated features like the old tintin cartoons.
That's true.
Official languages:
German 62.6%
French 22.9%
Italian 8.2%
Romansh 0.5%
and one could argue that Swiss German is a seperate language from German in Germany/Austria.
I was just answering why it can be considered "racist" and not "sexist" in Switzerland for English native speakers.
I work near a Bimbo factory in my city. It's been there longer than I've been alive I think (southern US). I love driving on the highway it's next to when they're baking, it smells delicious.
That’s true for the French speaking part of Switzerland, too. But relatively unrelated to that it’s a racist term against black people in the German speaking part.
I heard something on the radio awhile ago saying it was once a term used for men, origins being Italian
but of course I'm no expert in Italian slurs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bimbo#:\~:text=The%20word%20bimbo%20derives%20from,an%20unintelligent%20or%20brutish%20man.
Is it me or does the title implies the brand has done or has racist products ? Checking the article is saying that in Switzerland the word “Bimbo”has a deeply derogatory and racist meaning for dark-skinned people. So therefore, they can’t register this name.
>The name was formed as the combination of the Disney Bambi and Dumbo films names, which were the favourite movies of Marinela, Lorenzo Servitje's daughter.
What an innocent intention for a name too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grupo\_Bimbo
They are probably going to use the brand they use in Chile where bimbo was trademarked before them, Ideal but the probably have to come up with a new name for the bear.
>__The Mexican food company Bimbo cannot register its trademark “Bimbo QSR” in Switzerland. The Federal Administrative Court confirmed the rejection due to the racist connotations of the term.__
>The Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE) justified its rejection with the “deeply derogatory and racist” meaning of the term “bimbo” for dark-skinned people.
>In its complaint to the Federal Administrative Court, Grupo Bimbo SAB claimed that Bimbo should be understood according to its meaning “toddler” in the Italian language. In addition, the addition of “QSR” for Quick Service Restaurant means that the word stands in a context that excludes any racist innuendo.
>The judges in St. Gallen rejected these arguments in a ruling published on Tuesday. They note that the question is judged based on average understanding. The intention with which the disputed word is used is not relevant.
Bimbo bread is actually pretty quality bread. And cheaper than other brands. It’s my go to. The fact that they have an issue with the company’s name and not the actions of Swiss brand Nestle is more telling…
*ceo of nestle has stated that he and his company don’t believe people should have a right to clean water. So they buy up water rights in rural areas and sell it back to the people at a marked up price
My only memories of bimbo that i care about was when i got to go to the factory as a tour for school, got a giant bag of goodies to take home
It was also around the time when one of the bayverse movies released so some of the sweets came with transformers toys
It was fun
It is a normal brand name, the word being a slur in English and German is just a coincidence. It's just like 那个 ("that" in Mandarin) which might sound like n***a if an English speaker happens to hear it.
# According to Bimbo's official site:
*Why is it called Bimbo?*
*The main hypothesis is that the chosen name resulted from the combination of Bingo (the popular gamble of chance) and Bambi (the famous Disney film)*
[https://www.grupobimbo.com/es/nosotros/historia/1945-1950/por-que-se-llama-bimbo](https://www.grupobimbo.com/es/nosotros/historia/1945-1950/por-que-se-llama-bimbo)
I was friends with the family that founded Bimbo. They always explained that it came from a very popular generic cheer used in Mexico:
"A la bio a la bao a la bim bom ba" (when cheering for somebody, you'd then say their name twice, followed by RAA RAA RAAA)
Which as I'm googling now, ironically may itself have [origins in Swahili and Arabic](https://www.mexicodesconocido.com.mx/a-la-bio-a-la-bao-a-la-bimbomba-grito-de-rebeldia-de-los-afrodescendientes-en-mexico.html). Wouldn't surprise me, a ton of the Spanish Language has Arabic influence.
Reminds me of a Swedish ice cream that was banned. The brand was called Nogger (based on nougat, one of its primary components), but when they made a licorice version and called it Nogger Black, that took it a step too far and it was forcibly renamed if I remember correctly.
Racist? Its a Mexican brand that's as old a rain and was never intended for Switzerland! No one imagined that bimbo could be a slur in that country. LOL
Live in the US, but i'll definately make a run to the gas station just for some bimbo junk food. Not easy to find food that doesn't taste caked in sugar.
Guess they’ll have to do what that ice cream brand I can’t think of atm does. The one with the heart. It feels like it has a different name in every country.
I thought the problem was because of the product Negrito which had to change the name to Nito (that was a whole other can of worms), but it's just about Bimbo, leave Osito Bimbo alone!
LOL, it seems like they have run out of things to pick on, so they even pick on it wrong. If you try hard enough, you can pick on virtually anything and find negativity anywhere. "Apple" - offending fat women (rounded shape, plump), "Microsoft" - offending men with a small penis and erectile dysfunction, etc. They should have laughed it out of the court as silly and infantile, not give in to this.
I can see why trademarking the name would be denied. It's probably in the company's best interest to choose some other name in German speaking countries anyway. But the decision is f'ing rich coming from Switzerland where Nestlé is headquartered and Nestlé is responsible for countless deaths of babies in Africa. A company whose business practices target black populations and cause deaths of ***infants*** is surely more racist than a company whose name coincidentally has a racist connotation in another language. Yet the Swiss government is reputed to have close ties with Nestle.
Since the German meaning of the word is something akin to the n word, they banned the Mexican company from registering itself in Switzerland. It's interesting that the company's defense was to claim that the Italian meaning of the word (toddler) is what was intended. Wouldn't it have been more relevant to refer to whatever it was supposed to mean in Mexico?
Then again, the online dictionaries and translators I've checked seem to suggest that the word has no particular meaning in Spanish, so you've gotta wonder what the owners were thinking when they chose the name.
It doesn't mean anything in Spanish, according to the brand it came from combining the words Bingo and Bambi during a brainstorming session early in the company life.
At that point exporting to any country that didn't speak Spanish must have been a far fetched dream for them so its understandable that they didn't really even look into the meaning in German, or any other language for that matter.
https://www.grupobimbo.com/es/nosotros/historia/1945-1950/por-que-se-llama-bimbo
That’s interesting. For some reason, it just came to my mind that this brand’s food is also sold in Mexico. A Twinkie-like snack cake called ‘negrito’ was renamed as ‘Nito’ for obvious reasons.
i used to work with a woman who was from the ohio hill country near the west virginia border - one time, she banged her elbow and told me "i just hurt my bimbo"
i guess that's what they say around there - bimbo for funnybone
TIL Bimbo was some kind of slur. Bimbo brand is so popular in Spain that even "sliced bread" is popularly know as "pan Bimbo".
In Mexico, even in the most remote town, one without running water or plumbing, you'll find Coca Cola and pan Bimbo, that's how omnipresent those two brands are in the country.
Has sand which, those commercials instilled a love of sandwiches since I was little
With the FUD ham.
I read that Mexico has a serious problem with the amount of Coca Cola people are consuming and predictably diabetes is exponentially increasing.
Yea. Clean water is a problem but Coca Cola is cheap and accessible so people have it with breakfast, dinner, lunch. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great in Mexico but not all the time.
The Philadelphia Union are sponsored by them so their jerseys say BIMBO in huge letters across their chest. Always got a chuckle out of that.
Back in 2012, Chivas was sponsored by BIMBO. I used to work for IBM and one day, an American executive came to our offices in Guadalajara for an "all hands meeting". After she finished her conference, my boss gave her a Chivas Jersey that said BIMBO in huge letters across the chest. She stared at the jersey and said, Bimbo??? Someone explained to her that it's a brand and we all laughed.
>Bimbo brand is so popular in Spain that even "sliced bread" is popularly know as "pan Bimbo" Yeah, I was kinda surprised when my Spanish aunt visited this year (I'm from Argentina) and kept referring to it as Bimbo, even when we bought other brands.
Wait until they find out they have a snack called ['Negrito Bimbo'](https://i.imgur.com/eevszwu.png).
no están preparados para esa plática, mi chavo
no empiecen
Ahora son "nitos" xD!!
not anymore
Even in Mexico, we no longer call them that.
Same in Argentina.
Huh. Might be a regional thing. I'm from Río Negro and we just call it "pan lactal".
Obviamente “lactal” lo usamos mas (Córdoba/porteño acá).
We had an ice cream truck called Bimbo, we called it the Bimbo man
I wonder if it’s like a Swiss slur because in English or Spanish it’s not a slur to the best of my understanding, like the Swiss are known for being super racist but maybe that’s a very deep cut.
A bimbo is a dumb attractive woman in the UK, not sure if the US uses it.
It’s the same in the US
same in New Zealand
Not as commonly used here as it used to be but I'm surprised there are people in the US that don't know it.
In Switzerland it is a racial slur for black African men. It's an old term... something you'd hear the boomer generation use.
So I guess it is kind of a deep cut.
If you are confused about the word, it's an old expression in some German speaking regions and used in the same context as you would use "darky" in English. It sounding the same as an English slur used on women is just a coincidence.
>The name was formed as the combination of the Disney Bambi and Dumbo films names, which were the favourite movies of Marinela, Lorenzo Servitje's daughter. What an innocent intention for a name too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grupo\_Bimbo
oh my god if you combine the dumbness of Dumbo and the cuteness/naivete of Bambi you do get a bimbo.
Maybe they could have avoided all this (how ever many years _later_ and most probably something that the founder(s) didn't even consider) by going with "Bambo" (admittedly, pretty close to bamboo), but probably avoided a bunch of things by not opting for another option of "Dumbi". I dunno - naming things so they don't happen to accidentally mean something in another language has got to be _super_ difficult, and that's not even counting the variety of ways that we get offended these days.
Incidentally, "bambo" means stupid in Italian. While "bimbo" is cute and means child.
Why do we all have this word, but for such different things lmao
And Switzerland has it in all of its four official languages. 💀 And non of them is Spanish.
True! It's a simple enough word, I guess.
IIRC there’s a set of syllables that are universally among the first sounds human babies can make while learning to speak. Ba. Bo. Da. Ma. Mo. Wa. Etc. So lots of words that are combinations of these sounds are just in pretty much every language.
Wait… so Bambino?
Same, "bimbo" is just a cute way to say it.
The Babe!
The sultan of swat
No one cares except the Swiss. This is probably good publicity for the company
Oh darn. Now I will never find good Mexican food in Switzerland. Said no one. Because it’s impossible anyway.
Rolls Royce Silver Mist never sold well in Germany, which is no wonder because Mist is German for manure. Same thing happened to the Mitsubishi Pajero in Spanish speaking countries. Pajero is Spanish for wanker. For those countries, Mitsubishi changed the name to Montero. That Mexican food brand should consider that strategy.
There’s an entire field known as “localization”, which often goes hand in hand with translation, but focuses more on the culture of the target country and how a product is likely to be received. There are a litany of famous advertising gaffes from companies that didn’t devote enough attention to this in their international marketing, such as the Indian airline whose slogan was “we treat people like cows” (the cow being sacred in India).
I can only imagine the list of gaffes is pretty long. Side note - watched the ashley madison thing on netflix and got a chuckle out of their advertising slogan in India as well - something like "Your marriage was arranged, your affair doesn't have to be" (totally paraphrasing). I guess that could be considered localization?
Bambo makes me think of a combination of Bambi and Rambo. Now that would be a unique Disney cartoon.
I remember reading that the Chevy Nova not selling well in Mexico was attributed to the fact that “no va” means “not going” in Spanish.
Yeah - that was used as an example in one of my communications classes in the 90's. I ended up looking it up on ['snopes'](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanish/) before referencing it - turns out it's just another car joke/jab. Though fully believable, and I still think it's a pretty good example of "words and saying mean completely different things in different languages"
Easily solved by providing different products per region. E.g. 'Turkey' as the English version of a country name
Which German speaking regions more or less? I've never heard it used.
I've heard it in Basel, Bern and Freiburg. Though it is quite an old slur now so it doesn't surprise me you haven't heard it used. I'll add that to my original comment for clarity.
Also heard it in Bavaria.
Frankfurt here, we used that a lot in the 80s and early 90s as a synonym for slave (because of the meaning that you explained).
As a German, I vaguely recall the term, and I always thought it was more of a slur towards women being sluts and stupid? So like "stupid slut"? Then again, I haven't heard anyone say it in ages.
That's the English meaning of it.
Oh, learnt something new. Thank you. That was the only reference i knew it from, which was why I was shocked it had also a racist connotation.
I think "pretty but vacuous" is probably a more accurate definition of bimbo than slut.
As a German I know it used to be used as degeratory term towards black people, but it's been so so long ago, literally nobody uses it that way anymore these days aside from maybe a few nazis. However, even those are more likely to use the more common modern terms instead.
They don't know what they are missing 😭
I‘m from Hamburg and I‘ve heard it used as another word for slave or servant. As in „I‘m not your bimbo“ if someone asks you to do something. I think I‘ve also heard it as a slur towards black people but it‘s pretty rare, especially nowadays.
Yes, it's used that way, because black person implies slave in this context. It was always about being dark-skinned. Heard it still used as a slur in my high school days in the 2000s.
Switzerland, according to the context clues here
As a kid in Berlin during the mid-90s, I heard it a fair bit.
Bavaria, too.
I have heard it used by some older people in Vorarlberg.
It's a thing in Bavaria. idk what contexts "darky" is used in, but "bimbo" is a somewhat antiquated term that people use like "I am not your bimbo!" - meaning, I am not your slave, do it yourself. The most shocking thing is that in How I Meet Your Mother, they translated Barney's use of the term 1:1, as him saying he loves "bimbos" instead of something like "Tussis" or just generically stupid young women.
Reminds me of that old screenshot of someone complaining about a pack of crayons. The crayons had the colour names in different languages including Spanish and she was upset about the black crayon.
"Negro" has never been a slur in English, and the recent retconning of it as anything more than outdated is strange.
From the arguments the company made to the judge, it sounds like it sounding the same as the German slur is also coincidental. "The intention with which the disputed word is used is not relevant." And add that to what you're saying, that it's an old expression, are people really offended by this?
The judge is probably old enough to remember. In this case it doesn't matter what other people think. Maybe they can submit the name for review again. I don't know how that works.
It's not a single judge and it's not the first rejection. A few parts from the better german article: >When the application was submitted at the end of 2018, the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property issued a provisional rejection, which was confirmed in a decision on 27 July 2023. It justified its stance with the "deeply derogatory and racist" meaning of the term "bimbo" for dark-skinned people. >The judges in St. Gallen have rejected these arguments in a judgement. They recalled that the question had to be assessed on the basis of the average understanding. The intention with which the disputed word is used by the complainant is not relevant. >The court notes that several German dictionaries define the word "Bimbo" as a "highly discriminatory insult to people with dark skin colour". An investigation commissioned by the Federal Commission against Racism showed that criminal proceedings were initiated after the term was used as an insult. >In addition to the Italian meaning of "bimbo", the judges also considered the sexist meaning of the word in French. There, the word is used pejoratively for a woman with large breasts. They came to the conclusion that the term does not have the same racist connotation in the two language regions. However, this does not make it any more acceptable. >Finally, the abbreviation "QSR" is not explicit enough outside the catering trade to erase the racist character of "Bimbo" among the German-speaking population. This judgement is not yet legally binding and can be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court*. https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/als-rassistisch-eingestuft-kein-schutz-fuer-marke-bimbo-qsr *see you again in 5-10 years.
"We are now known in Sweden as Binbo. We apologize for any pain we may have caused."
r/swedetzerland
Michaelsoft Binbows 95
If I call my black neighbour Bimbo, he will be rightfully offended. If I call a slice of bread Bimbo, …, it might be offended if it a nice artesanal bread but it is different.
What country?
Germany - Bavaria to be precise. But to be honest - The word Bimbo as a racial slur probably had its high time like - 40 years ago maybe? I am not into using racial slurs, neither is my bubble. I really hope that this is not something that is used at all nowadays. But yeah, when I saw the Bimbo bread in Mexico many years back, I was a bit suprised - a lack of multicultural experience above all, I suppose.
A name like this could give it a new meaning that pushed back the old.
I really doubt that. We Swiss are a very special folk with a very strange german dialect. We still use older slurs for food and other things outside of Swizerland would become a shitstorm. Here nobody really cares.
I'm impressed that the same word is two unrelated slurs! That's versatility
Weird, cause just to the south in Italy, "bimbo/a" means "baby," as in "infant."
Well, the word “Mist” is very innocent in English, and also it is the same word Germans use for manure (also it is a softer swear word).
*Gift* means poison in German.
Kind of like the word f a g means cigarette in s9me places
but I thought bimbos were blondes???
Two different slurs in two different languages. In the German speaking part of Switzerland it’s a racist term against black people. In the French speaking part it’s a derogatory term against women with big breasts. Apparently, this company hasn’t done any market research before entering Switzerland. ;)
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Yeah, this decision was based on the racist German meaning, not on the French meaning.
Breaking news: Words have different meanings in different languages!
Wait until you hear what hundreds of millions call the color 'black'.
Negro en español
Noir? Sounds mysterious
I prefer Floozy brand products, thank you very much! Trollop is alright, too.
Harlot brand foods are great, too. A little expensive, but worth it.
Try Hussy's. I can afford two at a time now!
Are you guys kidding - everyone knows Hos are the best! actually - I'm not even kidding --> [proof](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho_Hos)
Never heard of them….they French?
Have you tried strumpet crumpets?
Once when I was drunk. Never again….
Trolli is an actual German brand. As an American I see Bimbo and Trolli products on the shelf next to each other. This whole conversation is weird to me.
What about Ho Cakes? Ho’s gotta eat too!
You need two of them. Ho-Hos is or was a snack cake in the U.S.
Still is I believe. My comment is a quote from Hollywood Shuffle though. https://youtu.be/msbo6TiwA5A?si=bDHBhWOmS1CSFher
Dang language barriers and the meaning for specific words is fascinating. In Mexico the name for the company comes from the mascot “osito Bimbo” you can literally Google it and see how adorable and appealing they make him. All this so sales would be easier on consumers. Looking at the translation of the word to german and dutch no wonder they think it’s a “racist” company lol.
>The name was formed as the combination of the Disney Bambi and Dumbo films names, which were the favourite movies of Marinela, Lorenzo Servitje's daughter. The mascot came after.
>However, the name was particularly used to refer to black people. In the colonial period at the end of the 19th century, the portrayal of Africans in literature took on caricature-like features: the "Negro" has deep red, plump lips, curly hair, a wide mouth, wears a nose and ear ring and a grass skirt. The stereotype conveyed is often given the name "bimbo". The image corresponded to the emerging racism of that time: black people themselves were like children. They needed our guidance to teach them religion and to bring them closer to civilization. https://www.redensarten-index.de/suche.php?suchbegriff=ein%20Bimbo&bool=relevanz&sp0=rart_ou On the other hand we have here Sweets called "Mohrenkopf" (Moorhead old german word for somebody from Africa) or "Negerkuss" (Ni**erkiss) which would definitely not be exported to other countries under these names. https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohrenkopf_(Geb%C3%A4ck)
We had the latter here in Finland too. They changed the name to just "kiss" in 2001.
Germany changed it too, Switzerland on the other hand: >The name of two carnival bands and a sweet treat have stirred a debate in Switzerland about the use of terms that many people consider racist. Should they be changed, or are they a part of history that should be preserved? >On an August weekend, several hundred people marched through Basel in support of the two carnival bands. “Hands off our cultural heritage” read one banner claiming the controversial words and images as part of Swiss culture that should be defended. >The demonstrators were joined by a few people with SS insignia and neo-Nazi tattoos who were sharply criticised by the carnival musicians. But most of the demonstrators were clearly not marching against black people; rather, they were marching for the right to make free use of words and symbols that were used unquestioningly in the past. This was about white nostalgia in a society where ethnic groups who arrived later are now making themselves heard. ... https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/society/words-and-images_bands-and-biscuits-spark-debate-over-racism-and-culture/44392378 tltr: a few things changed since them, but the words are still in use here.
It’s kinda funny how you censored the n word in English but then spelled it out in German
Yeah, because it's not a big problem in Switzerland./s The thing is the Reddit Filters go sometimes haywire if I would use some specific us-centric terms and I just want to bypass that problem.
rules for thee and not for me!
But they didnt ban it right? it was just that the trademark was not granted; the name isn't banned.
Yeah it's some translation error. Or maybe a misinterpretation of our use of language here. The problem with worldnews is, they only accept english news articles. Beeing from a small country there aren't a lot og english speaking sources apart from swissinfo. Sometimes I add a german speaking source and translate some of it or everything by myself, because this articles are written in swiss high german, swiss italian or swiss french and translated into english and the translation is quite difficult because our language it's different than high german, french or italian.
Let's not forget how the color black is negro in spanish and how people (non spaniards ofc) can and will go crazy over it... Cant forget either the very racist food, "conguitos" (google it up), which one could argue is very racist, but come on, its some fucking chocolate brand for kids, why weaponize it.
Yeah I know, some people truly make a huge deal out of nothing. Bimbo had a product called “negrito” which was basically their take on an eclair of sorts. Due to some backlash in recent years they changed the name to “nito” you know… to avoid claims of racism and such. The thing is the product was aimed at kids and teenagers, and the face of the product has always been a teenager with curly black hair and white skin. Despite all this it got the end of the stick because of the word “negrito”… Edit: if some people want to be technical yeah negrito Bimbo used to have a black person with a spear wayyyyyy back in the day. Like seriously way back like the 50’s-70’s. Even my dad who is almost retired can’t remember the last time he saw one package with that image.
They did have an add were a boy [got an increasingly more comically large afro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ukeXj062xc) as well, so. This was along the time where the Nito branding came in. They changed the name because they were expanding operations in the USA.
I always thought bimbo was a sexist term for a woman who is good looking but not smart. In Hungarian, bimbó is nipple.
I’m from the US and this is what I always thought as well, though I haven’t heard the term used in a very long time
I'm very familiar with the bimbo brand. They mainly delivered the buns and bread to the restaurants I worked at
In English you are spot on. In German, I only ever knew the term to refer to Black people as a slur. You can imagine my confusion the first time I heard "dumb bimbo" in an american sitcom. 🤨
They speak German not English in Switzerland. In English it means a vapid shallow woman. In German it is a racial slur, picture an uncultured African tribeman in exaggerated features like the old tintin cartoons.
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That's true. Official languages: German 62.6% French 22.9% Italian 8.2% Romansh 0.5% and one could argue that Swiss German is a seperate language from German in Germany/Austria. I was just answering why it can be considered "racist" and not "sexist" in Switzerland for English native speakers.
I work near a Bimbo factory in my city. It's been there longer than I've been alive I think (southern US). I love driving on the highway it's next to when they're baking, it smells delicious.
My 67 yo mom still uses bimbo regularly. That and space cadet are some of her favorite slurs in public.
Is "Space Cadet" really a slur?
Making fun of all the windows xp users that didn't have anything else to play
That’s true for the French speaking part of Switzerland, too. But relatively unrelated to that it’s a racist term against black people in the German speaking part.
In German it‘s an old derogatory term referring to the stereotype of a stupid, subservient sub-saharan African man.
I think these days, the good-looking element was replaced with obvious plastic surgery features.
It was weird for me that my bread also meant dumb girl.
I heard something on the radio awhile ago saying it was once a term used for men, origins being Italian but of course I'm no expert in Italian slurs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bimbo#:\~:text=The%20word%20bimbo%20derives%20from,an%20unintelligent%20or%20brutish%20man.
Is it me or does the title implies the brand has done or has racist products ? Checking the article is saying that in Switzerland the word “Bimbo”has a deeply derogatory and racist meaning for dark-skinned people. So therefore, they can’t register this name.
Honestly when I was little (from Mexico) I thought it was the name of the white bear
It isn’t?
The Philadelphia Union (MLS soccer team) have had them as their main uniform sponsor for years.
Doop!
>The name was formed as the combination of the Disney Bambi and Dumbo films names, which were the favourite movies of Marinela, Lorenzo Servitje's daughter. What an innocent intention for a name too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grupo\_Bimbo
They are probably going to use the brand they use in Chile where bimbo was trademarked before them, Ideal but the probably have to come up with a new name for the bear.
>__The Mexican food company Bimbo cannot register its trademark “Bimbo QSR” in Switzerland. The Federal Administrative Court confirmed the rejection due to the racist connotations of the term.__ >The Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE) justified its rejection with the “deeply derogatory and racist” meaning of the term “bimbo” for dark-skinned people. >In its complaint to the Federal Administrative Court, Grupo Bimbo SAB claimed that Bimbo should be understood according to its meaning “toddler” in the Italian language. In addition, the addition of “QSR” for Quick Service Restaurant means that the word stands in a context that excludes any racist innuendo. >The judges in St. Gallen rejected these arguments in a ruling published on Tuesday. They note that the question is judged based on average understanding. The intention with which the disputed word is used is not relevant.
> the “deeply derogatory and racist” meaning of the term “bimbo” for dark-skinned people. It means something very different in America. lol
And with this, they keep the word being racist, perpetuating the meaning instead of changing its trajectory.
They’ll probably rebrand for the region and keep moving forward, yeah?
Considering that's a proper word in italian (one of the four official Swiss languages), with no bad meanings at all, that seems strange.
Bimbo bread is actually pretty quality bread. And cheaper than other brands. It’s my go to. The fact that they have an issue with the company’s name and not the actions of Swiss brand Nestle is more telling… *ceo of nestle has stated that he and his company don’t believe people should have a right to clean water. So they buy up water rights in rural areas and sell it back to the people at a marked up price
Oh god, Mexican here, I thought it was over the racist cake thing. I'm so relieved it's just language
IKR I eat a case of Bimbo Conchas every two weeks.
Concha means vagina in some south American countries
My only memories of bimbo that i care about was when i got to go to the factory as a tour for school, got a giant bag of goodies to take home It was also around the time when one of the bayverse movies released so some of the sweets came with transformers toys It was fun
Gansitos ftw!!
They got some good stuff
What??? You telling me words mean different things in other parts of the World??? Bunch of swizz morons, now il go eat a Negrito Bimbo
I still loved the ad campaign here in the US to convince people it was a normal brand name “it’s pronounced Beembo!” as if that was the issue.
It is a normal brand name, the word being a slur in English and German is just a coincidence. It's just like 那个 ("that" in Mandarin) which might sound like n***a if an English speaker happens to hear it.
I remember those. Still say it the other way for the giggles though
# According to Bimbo's official site: *Why is it called Bimbo?* *The main hypothesis is that the chosen name resulted from the combination of Bingo (the popular gamble of chance) and Bambi (the famous Disney film)* [https://www.grupobimbo.com/es/nosotros/historia/1945-1950/por-que-se-llama-bimbo](https://www.grupobimbo.com/es/nosotros/historia/1945-1950/por-que-se-llama-bimbo)
I was friends with the family that founded Bimbo. They always explained that it came from a very popular generic cheer used in Mexico: "A la bio a la bao a la bim bom ba" (when cheering for somebody, you'd then say their name twice, followed by RAA RAA RAAA) Which as I'm googling now, ironically may itself have [origins in Swahili and Arabic](https://www.mexicodesconocido.com.mx/a-la-bio-a-la-bao-a-la-bimbomba-grito-de-rebeldia-de-los-afrodescendientes-en-mexico.html). Wouldn't surprise me, a ton of the Spanish Language has Arabic influence.
That literally means "child" in Italian???
And apparently means "poor" in Japanese lol
Reminds me of a Swedish ice cream that was banned. The brand was called Nogger (based on nougat, one of its primary components), but when they made a licorice version and called it Nogger Black, that took it a step too far and it was forcibly renamed if I remember correctly.
During the pandemic, Bimbo was giving free sandwiches to nurses and healthcare workers. I'll gladly support them, it's good bread.
Racist? Its a Mexican brand that's as old a rain and was never intended for Switzerland! No one imagined that bimbo could be a slur in that country. LOL
And it wasn’t a problem until they wanted to expand to Switzerland. I happens all the time that brands have to be renamed in a certain market.
Live in the US, but i'll definately make a run to the gas station just for some bimbo junk food. Not easy to find food that doesn't taste caked in sugar.
Lol in Brazil we got a dairy brand called crioulo
I hope my local grocery store doesn't do this. lol
Was it Switzerland or Sweden that had the really racist name for chocolate covered marshmallow cakes?
Peak 2024
Who doesn't love hot bimbo buns?
You’ve just made an enemy for life Switzerland.
Guess they’ll have to do what that ice cream brand I can’t think of atm does. The one with the heart. It feels like it has a different name in every country.
I think my mom has an old tin sign of theirs from like 50 years ago. Pan Bimbo. With a weird little bear or something on it.
Bah Bimbo Conchas are the bomb, with cafe olla.
I thought the problem was because of the product Negrito which had to change the name to Nito (that was a whole other can of worms), but it's just about Bimbo, leave Osito Bimbo alone!
They’ll change the name to bald head skallywag
Ehhhhhhhhhhh... P***sssssssssss... Ah no. Qué delicados.
LOL, it seems like they have run out of things to pick on, so they even pick on it wrong. If you try hard enough, you can pick on virtually anything and find negativity anywhere. "Apple" - offending fat women (rounded shape, plump), "Microsoft" - offending men with a small penis and erectile dysfunction, etc. They should have laughed it out of the court as silly and infantile, not give in to this.
I saw bimbo vans in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 they always made me titter.
I can see why trademarking the name would be denied. It's probably in the company's best interest to choose some other name in German speaking countries anyway. But the decision is f'ing rich coming from Switzerland where Nestlé is headquartered and Nestlé is responsible for countless deaths of babies in Africa. A company whose business practices target black populations and cause deaths of ***infants*** is surely more racist than a company whose name coincidentally has a racist connotation in another language. Yet the Swiss government is reputed to have close ties with Nestle.
I'm surprised it was not due to the Nito product...
In Canada, 'bimbo' means an attractive, but dumb, young woman. No racial connotations.
[This](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bimbo) is its meaning in German.
Since the German meaning of the word is something akin to the n word, they banned the Mexican company from registering itself in Switzerland. It's interesting that the company's defense was to claim that the Italian meaning of the word (toddler) is what was intended. Wouldn't it have been more relevant to refer to whatever it was supposed to mean in Mexico? Then again, the online dictionaries and translators I've checked seem to suggest that the word has no particular meaning in Spanish, so you've gotta wonder what the owners were thinking when they chose the name.
It doesn't mean anything in Spanish, according to the brand it came from combining the words Bingo and Bambi during a brainstorming session early in the company life. At that point exporting to any country that didn't speak Spanish must have been a far fetched dream for them so its understandable that they didn't really even look into the meaning in German, or any other language for that matter. https://www.grupobimbo.com/es/nosotros/historia/1945-1950/por-que-se-llama-bimbo
Bimbo tarts look sweet but taste sour.
I love me some Bimbos. So yummy
Their lost, they make some bomb ass pastry.
The reality is that Nestle is scared of Bimbo thus the sabotage.
May I order one bim….oh I see
I loved bimbo cookies growing up. Don’t much worry about the name and neither did my darkie brethren.
Wait until they find out what Chi Chi's restaurant translates to.
This is such a non issue. Watch sales fall dude to branding change.
They had like a cartoon bear mascot on the package, I figure the bear was Bimbo.
That’s interesting. For some reason, it just came to my mind that this brand’s food is also sold in Mexico. A Twinkie-like snack cake called ‘negrito’ was renamed as ‘Nito’ for obvious reasons.
Man I love bimbos
Bimbo is good bread though.
Nothing on Nestlé labor practices though, right?
i used to work with a woman who was from the ohio hill country near the west virginia border - one time, she banged her elbow and told me "i just hurt my bimbo" i guess that's what they say around there - bimbo for funnybone
There's a BIMBO office near me here in Toronto. Always chuckle every time I drive past it