Shopper's bizarre Cheer cheese TikTok video sparks debate
A man has divided shoppers online after sharing a video of a strange act with a packet of Cheer cheese, which was previously known as Coon cheese.
The shopper shared the video of himself on TikTok unpacking his groceries, including a packet of Cheer Cheese.
The cheese name and branding was recently changed from Coon to Cheer after calls for the name change came about over the racist double meaning of 'Coon'.
The video, which was been viewed more than 600,000 times, shows the shopper take out the slices of cheese from the Cheer packet and place them into the old brand packaging of Coon cheese. He then knocks the Cheer packet off the table.
The video posted by TikTok user @bmwe12guy was posted to highlight “cancel culture” and criticise the name change.
The video caption contains the hashtags #cancelculture, #policallycorrect #itsjustcheesekaren and #bringbackcooncheese.
Writing across the screen says "F**k cancel culture".
Cheese video backlash
The video stirred up a heated debate online with more than 2000 comments over the shopper's switching of the cheese boxes.
“Except it wasn’t cancel culture that decided it. The company decided itself that it wasn’t a good look for the name,” one person pointed out.
“Wow, you sure showed them,” said another.
“Imagine being mad about a name that doesn’t affect you but actually does affect others,” said a third.
Meanwhile, others said that if he was that unhappy with the name change, he should switch to a different brand of cheese.
“I just don’t support their company anymore,” one person said.
“I mean, I agree the name change is stupid but you kind of supported the change by continuing to buy from them,” said another.
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The name change explained
The name change came about back in July following complaints of racism. In January, it was announced by the brand’s parent company Saputo Dairy Australia, that Coon would be replaced with Cheer.
While Coon cheese was originally named after American Edward William Coon, who invented the ripening process used to produce the original product, the word is also considered to be an offensive racial slur against black people.
Following the black lives matter movement, the company decided to change the name.
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