Nutrimaine and Y'a bon Banania

On 23rd May 2005, the association CollectifDom lodged a complaint with the Nanterre Crown Crown against Nutrimaine, a commercial food producer well known for its trademark product, Banania (a banana flavoured chocolate drink usually consumed at breakfast). Banania's original advertising slogan (first used in 1915) included a drawing of a black or Senegalese infantryman (a 'tirailleur') accompanied by the words 'Y'a bon Banania', literally meaning 'It's good, Banania'. The use of the colloquialism 'Y'a', which could be translated as 'This good', was considered to have racist and colonialist connotations. It implied a pidgin form of French that was supposedly used by these soldiers, which in turn suggested their linguistic and intellectual inferiority. Nutrimaine took the decision to approach CollectifDom in order to find an amicable agreement. They agreed to change their marketing design by removing the offensive slogan and were given eight months in which to get rid of all their stock.

Type: 
Links to associations (collaborations): 
Start date: 
2005CE May 23rd
Outcome: 
Nutrimaine agreed to change their marketing design by removing the offensive slogan and were given eight months in which to get rid of all their stock.