What’s in a label? Apparently a lot according to an African American teenager who got served a Negro candy as a gesture of good will by an unsuspecting immigrant man.
Negro is a hard licorice candy. I hated them as a kid. They taste like turpentine and feel like chewing glass beads that just won’t go away.
Go away they won’t. They’ve been making them for eighty five years in Serbia. The wrapper design has been updated a bit since I’ve been a kid but it still has that old world sensibility. Chimneys and candy don’t mix.
The tagline under the big red “NEGRO” reads “THROAT CHIMNEY SWEEPER.” Delicious. The lower left seal claims “THE ONE AND ONLY GENUINE.” There is a less-than-genuine Hungarian knockoff also called Negro. See the picture of a man holding a bag of copycat Negroes at the bottom.
The clipping above is from one of my favorite news stories ever. It was reported in a local paper around 2003. The pictured girl was trick-or-treating and a Yugoslav refugee gave her some Negro candy. The girl saw this as a racial insult and went away crying.
I can’t say that I know more about the incident than was reported. It’s hard to believe that the non-English speaking immigrant was intentionally racist. The man was simply trying to conform to the odd American custom of trick-or-treating the best way he could. He probably thought that the local kids would enjoy some imported (yet foul) tasting candy.
I visited the manufacturers website. It’s very slick but it’s weird. It uses industrial language like “hard molded candy” and “product specifications” which comes at no surprise since they have a chimney on the wrapper.
I’d guess the incident with the teenager was a case of cultural misunderstanding. You’d go nuts if you started taking brand names apart.
Baba appropriated the picture below from Jani Helle. The original photo along many other cool shots can be found at Jani’s Flickr page.
By sener August 1, 2008 - 4:42 am
LOL! at the picture, this is actually my favorite candy.
I though this was the worst candy when I was a kid. It nearly broke my tooth once.
By Daniel Szabo March 13, 2021 - 8:59 pm
Bruh the hungarian one is not a knock of its the original,
By Lemmy July 23, 2021 - 2:41 pm
It was first made in Subotica, which is now in Serbia, and the original company continued their production there after the dissolution of the Austria-Hungary. So Serbian version is the original one.
By David Halasz May 6, 2022 - 9:19 pm
The company that made the original NEGRO Candy was located in the city Subotica. Subotica at that time was a city in the Astro-Hunagrian empire. The company that made the candy was owned by a Hungarian guy named Ruff Jozsef. So, the original NEGRO was made in a city in Hungary / Hungarian territory (Astro-Hungarian empire) by a Hungarian company that was owned by a Hungarian Guy.
By Boglarka Baranyai November 25, 2021 - 7:06 pm
Preach it, brother!
By СРБИН December 2, 2021 - 9:43 am
Nah the Hungarian one is made in Turkey. Serbian one is absolutely the OG.
By Cigany szerb December 7, 2021 - 8:12 am
Lol no. Ruff was Hungarian. Hungariqn Negro is the original one.
By David Halasz May 6, 2022 - 9:18 pm
HAHAHA The company that made the original NEGRO Candy was located in the city Subotica. Subotica at that time was a city in the Astro-Hunagrian empire. The company that made the candy was owned by a Hungarian guy named Ruff Jozsef. So, the original NEGRO was made in a city in Hungary / Hungarian territory (Astro-Hungarian empire) by a Hungarian company that was owned by a Hungarian Guy. Any other question?
Also, later on it was made in Hungary in the city called GYOR. (You can even see GYOR on the candy’s bag on the above picture). Since 2018 The company from Gyor started to make the candy in Turkey, I don’t know the reason why but as we know the iPhone is made in China, yet it is still an American technological masterpiece 🙂
By katja August 10, 2008 - 2:58 pm
this seems a bit ignorant to me. the spanish word for black is negro- is that,too offensive then? the word negro only carries a negative connotation in the US, where we have deep seated racial divides. you’re probably 100% right about the man giving them away; he didn’t mean it offensively.
I agree with you Katja. The interesting thing is that “black” as a racial definition in the U.S. is following suit of “negro” and becoming culturally insensitive. “Negro” (not to be confused with the other N-word is so quaint that it defines the speaker more so then the subject.
An old person would use the label “negro” much the same way you and I will use label “black” one day at the expense of sounding old fashioned and ignorant.
By michael November 21, 2008 - 9:11 pm
I guess not much African-americans will be visiting MonteNEGRO then as well.
By Kim December 23, 2008 - 4:43 pm
i had that candy before 😛
By nick gurh February 21, 2021 - 3:21 pm
in your throat?
By Tapia December 24, 2008 - 10:14 am
I can see nothing wrong with the girl’s response to getting the candy. I can easily believe that she had never heard of the candy before. Although the candy is well known in the man’s native country, not many people know about it in the US. In fact I only heard about it yesterday, and if someone had given me a piece of one before I researched it, I would have been kind of mad at them. My first thought would be that they are trying to be racist.
And no, people do not get offended with the Spanish word for black. And the last comment is just dumb. Some people will never understand. But I don’t expect nothing less of them.
By Reader March 10, 2009 - 1:30 pm
No, the woman’s offended response to the Negro candy was not ignorant. She understood that it was a foreign candy and therefore had an unusual name. That was NOT her objection!
People have been known to randomly give out inappropriate things to children during Halloween. It’s easy to just hand out a fistful of something and remain anonymous. That’s why the number of trick-or-treaters has declined in the last decade or so. The mother in the story feared that her child had been a victim of a situation like this.
The chances of some unsuspecting immigrant handing out Negro candy is pretty slim as well. My grandparents are from Europe and yes they also eat this yucky candy, but they know better than to hand it out on Halloween!
By Mike April 13, 2009 - 9:46 pm
This is the best candy in the whole world, I have grown up with them and nothing else compares. People that say that it is yuck have no taste.
Why do you think this candy has lasted 85 years and is still produced, becuase it is the best ever.
And I totally agree, that only in USA can this candy be viewed a racist remark, just shows the ignorance of the rest of the world.
By Jeff Bunning October 12, 2017 - 1:36 am
I must agree that this is without a doubt the best candy I have ever eaten, I first tried it about 4 yaers ago at age 45, I am in Australia . I suggested to my wife that I was condused hiw they can get away with that name in today’s society, she is hungarian and advised me of it’s history and the name is from it’s original creator Pietro Negro. Explanation accepted 🙂
By Jani June 3, 2009 - 11:29 am
The last picture in this post was originally shared on Flickr with a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
The photo was remixed, branded and used in this post without any attribution to its source and creator. I ask of you to either provide a link to the original or mention the creator of the original, Jani Helle. Failing that, please remove the picture.
The original photograph can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/janihelle/789912701/
Regards,
Jani Helle
By Ancients --- what ya think? - Page 8 - AionSource.com October 6, 2009 - 10:05 am
[…] try and use racism as a defense, reminds me of this: Haha Nice one Another one for you – Bad Record Covers Negro Candy: A Racist Confectionery? __________________ You have been queueing for two hours, please take a […]
By Willy November 14, 2009 - 1:00 pm
It’s called Negro, because it’s inventors name is Pietro Negro.
That’s all…it’s the italian inventor’s name. It was made in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in Antal Dreher’s candy factory.
By Matt Earwood December 7, 2009 - 11:44 am
Crud, i just now read dougs post. oh well my delivery was better
By Rade December 11, 2009 - 6:59 am
I can’t beleive what you can connect to racism these days! This candy is actually black, so the name is more than appropriate.
Maybe we should also change the name of Red Sox, because it’s offensive to native americans?
You bet. It wouldn’t be the first team to go through a name change like that.
By d-guy May 26, 2010 - 10:26 am
Oh come on! NEGRO ain’t a bad candy.
Although, the new peppermint flavor ain’t really my thing.
You want shitty?
Try Haribo Lakritz Schnecken (Black Licorice Snails).
http://www.germandeli.com/harolasc20ls.html
Now THAT is some bad tasting candy.
Baba sez:
I CAN’T IMAGINE WHAT THESE BLACK FOREST SNAILS TASTE LIKE. PROBABLY TOE CHEESE OR SOMETHING.
By Wlado February 24, 2011 - 1:55 pm
I love this candy! I grew up with it 🙂 And it’s quite popular in the ex-Yu countries too. And I don’t see ANYTHING racist in it. If there’s any racism on the Balkans it’s towards Romani people, there is no ‘reason’ (there is no reason for anyone, but you get what I’m talking about) to hate dark skinned people here because they are not very present here. I’ve never met a black skinned person in my life, and I’ve traveled all over the ex-Yu countries. I saw them in Greece and that’s it.
And BTW, Negro means black. As in color black, not ‘black skin’ or whatever. If you think it’s racist than YOU are racist because you instantly relate the word ‘black’ to people with dark skin. So much about that.
By gezz+ March 29, 2011 - 10:16 am
I have eaten that candy before and liked it so much. I’m also white, will i be racist for this?
By alibaba May 2, 2011 - 12:07 am
my wife came home from work with a “negro” candy the other day. it was the first time for me to learn about this brand. I took a picture for a friend of mine labeled “fatal branding” and did some research on it. my friend and I are both working in the area of packaging design and branding and I thought this to be a great example of how important it is to be aware of how brand names will be received in different countries.
although I am convinced that no one was intending to offend colored people, there is no way of avoiding mis-interpretation. which is not going to work in favor of the brand as this discussion shows, is it? but then again, one could argue that any press is better than no press at all…
By Alyse March 12, 2012 - 11:45 am
WOW. I’m Black, and Black people that cry racism all the time are so annoying and make ALL of us look bad. I have many Serbian friends and none of them are racist. Americans should know the word ‘Negro’ is the color black (as in not skin color) because we have to take Spanish in school and the word is in our text books. The candy is probably given the name because of it’s color. I mean its BLACK licorice. Having lived in Europe before, the U.S. just has a lot of racial tension.
By Sam. Joe March 18, 2012 - 3:18 am
“Hungarian knockoff?” Are you kidding, right? The Negro invented by an Italian gentleman – Pietro Negro – and manufactured in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in the Dreher factory, belonged to Antal Dreher.
NO I HAD NO IDEA. IS THE NEGRO SHOWN ON THIS PAGE EVEN LICENSED OR IT’S A KNOCKOFF?
By Aleks March 7, 2020 - 10:46 am
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negro_(candy)
By Daris March 20, 2012 - 8:15 am
Lol this is blown way out of proportion….Not everyone uses English language you know?I am not sure but Negro might be shortened to “Montenegro”a country near Serbia now(before same country)
By dante August 31, 2012 - 2:19 pm
stupid all of you…this is a candy 85year old from old yugoslavia…nothing common between the candy and black people…stuuupid americans!!!!! the guy is chimney-sweeper…the guy is black because of his work-dirth…here we have many nations…the racism here is big word!!!!!
By Emily August 14, 2013 - 3:00 am
A European girl at my workplace always has these candies with her. When she first introduced them to us we were all “EXCUSE me? Do I want a WHAT????!” but the initial shock wore off and I have actually come to enjoy these and candy offerings. Well I was feeling pretty rough at work today, extremely nauseated, so I was in and out of the public restroom dry heaving for a few hours. At one point my coworker came in to check on me and asked “Do you want a candy?” I thought about it for a second (but apparently not nearly long enough) before replying “Yeah, thanks, maybe if I suck on one for a while it will help to settle my stomach” and immediately someone in the stall next to me burst out laughing. It was then that I realized how my words had been interpreted. Total face-palm moment. But you know what? The candy really did quell my nausea!!!
By Dominik October 5, 2014 - 12:19 pm
It’s the other way around, [expletive]. It’s a Hungarian brand that was copied by Serbians.
By Orpheus January 12, 2017 - 9:52 pm
Yep, that’s true, its a Hungarian candy, but it’s also Italian at the same time.
So it’s originating from Hungary.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negro_(candy)
By Sándor May 31, 2022 - 8:05 pm
Maybe Italo-Hungaro-Serbian. 🙂
By Imre May 4, 2019 - 6:53 pm
If it were really Hungarian, it wouldn’t be called “”negro”; it would be called “fekete”, which is the Hungarian word for black.
By Jani May 29, 2019 - 1:08 pm
For your information:
“The name refers to its inventor, Pietro Negro”
So who cares about colors, it’s about a person’s name, not about the color of the candy…?
By Sándor May 31, 2022 - 8:01 pm
LOL: And if it were really serb it would be called Crna? 🙂 Just kidding I don’t care about this.
By Marko Burazor January 22, 2018 - 11:05 pm
I Just want to say that the label, it’s not read nee-gro. It’s read ne-gro.
Just wanted to point this out.
By Yugoslav Lad February 1, 2019 - 2:54 pm
These are awesome.
If you want to see bad candy just take a look at your “jolly ranchers”
By Rory April 6, 2019 - 8:04 pm
I am black. Living in Canada. I can’t even imagine any problem with this. I also enjoy this candy sometimes, it has a good taste & the name is unusual so I sometimes buy it for my other black friends. We always laugh. But please make a candy called “caucasian”. Hahaha maybe make it vanilla flavour!
By Baba Zanetti April 9, 2019 - 6:48 am
Well, there is Cracker Jack.
By Jani May 29, 2019 - 1:10 pm
For your information:
“The name refers to its inventor, Pietro Negro”
So who cares about colors, it’s about a person’s name, not about the color of the candy…?
The whole article is nonsense and stupid. The person who tried to make this racist, didn’t even bother looking up the candy’s Wikipedia page to get basic info about the name of this candy.
By Johhny Rebel February 6, 2021 - 11:44 pm
Negro candy is the best serbian candy i have ever tried
By Chandrachud Das July 9, 2021 - 5:35 pm
A lot of people discussing Negro candy here. My type of jam. Or should I say my type of candy? Can’t wait to try it.
By Boglarka Baranyai November 25, 2021 - 7:16 pm
The name of the candy comes from its inventor’s name: Pietro Negro, an Italian confectioner who came up with the recipe. It’s not licorice, but anise and menthol-flavored, and it’s one of my favorite childhood candies. And no, the Hungarian version isn’t a knock-off, a Hungarian guy owned the factory, it was originally produced in Szabadka, Hungary. Just because the country’s border was later moved, it’s still Hungarian.
By Diana May 25, 2022 - 8:59 am
So it’s originally Italian? Hungarian guy just owned the factory like the Serbians now. 🧐
By Ana Sekulic May 31, 2022 - 9:41 pm
Serbia won the war and now Subotica is ours. I think it’s fair that all things from Subotica now belong to us, I am not sure what happened in past, but this candy thing is from Subotica (Serbia) and it belongs to Serbia. It’s therefore Serbian, and it belongs to Serbian cultural heritage. I am puzzled why people pretend to be confused about this, it’s relatively straightforward.
By Diana June 10, 2022 - 5:55 am
Not confused, just don’t understand why us Serbians are always viewed negatively, like we copied their candy that was originally Italian, to me they are Serbian but with the logic here they must be Italian, I like the comment that said they are Italo-Hungaro-Serbian.
By Anna June 28, 2022 - 7:14 pm
Szabadka (today Subotica) was Hungarian when this candy was invented, so it’s a Hungarian product. The city literally has more Hungarian than Serbian residents up to this day. The factory was owned by two brothers, one of them moved to Győr, the other stayed in Szabadka, and both continued to manufacture the candy. The factory in Győr has been sold and now the candy is produced in Turkey, but originally it’s a Hungarian product, not Serbian or Turkish.