Indigenous rights activist Dr Stephen Hagan is calling for Pauls’s French parent company Lactalis to replace the ‘Smarter White’ label because it’s offensive to Aboriginals.
The label has been used to sell low-fat milk since 2002. It is the same activist who called the Coon Cheese to be scrapped over its racist name.
“Aboriginal people are saying that there’s an inference that it’s for smart, white people, not for smart, black people,” Hagan told Daily Mail Australia.
“There’s a lot of Aboriginal people who take offence, who don’t drink that milk because of the interference that it’s ‘smarter white’.”
Hagan said lots of Aboriginals had raised the issue with him.
“I recall having conversations with people who don’t buy that because of the connotation ‘white people are smart’,” he said.
“A lot of people have raised it with me: they asked the question about the Smarter White milk – ‘Why couldn’t it just be Smarter Milk? Why does it need to put the ‘white’ in there?
“If enough people want to bring it to my attention, I’m happy to write a letter to the owners of Pauls and say, ‘Look, will you consider changing the name?’.”
Lactalis declined to comment on the issue.
Pauls’s French owner Lactalis declined to comment.
Meanwhile, Alice Springs town councillor Jacinta said the call to rename the milk brand was “utter nonsense”.
“I don’t know a single Indigenous Australian who is offended at all by milk being called ‘Smarter White.”
Hagan was ultimately successful in his plea to have Coon Cheese renamed, with parent company Saputo promising to examine “this situation very thoroughly” and make a decision on the cheese brand’s name in the coming weeks.
