Another moment from my 1998 trip to Japan:
One of the first things I did upon arriving in Japan was to pose for a photo with the worst-named non-dairy coffee creamer anywhere: Creap. As the label implies, it’s meant to be an amalgam of “creamy” and “powder”.
Still, it’s not as bad a name choice as Darkie toothpaste:
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A video of a Japanese TV ad for probably that very toothpaste made the rounds on the web a few years ago. It’s even more racist than the packaging suggests. They had a large black man climb a light pole like an ape and make a little Japanese girl cry.
Just read the whole ‘worst date ever’ saga. Brilliant.
I think the “Creap” thing was unintentional, much like other Japanese Engrish like mistakes. But the choice of “Darkie” is completely intentional. In Taiwan, the literal translation is “Black Person” toothpaste, and the selling point was making your teeth white *cringe*.