Congratulations to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on their big day! They got married, y'know. In case you didn't hear. While I've personally never been married myself, I've seen beyond season eight of Friends, and as such I know a thing or two about that good old honeymoon period.
If the classic NBC sitcom is anything to go by, then Harry and Meghan are in for an amazing honeymoon, full of connection and newlywed bliss, before something strange happens and the couple are plunged unceremoniously back into real life. Now, I don't think that this German chocolate company meant to interrupt the royal couple's happy week or so, but I can't imagine Meghan Markle being too pleased with this Facebook post all the same.
Although not many people have heard of them over here, Super Dickmann are a pretty popular candy brand out in Germany. Thanks to their... unique name, they're not really too popular over here, but that's okay - in German, their name translates pretty much to "really big". Oh. That's unfortunate.
Following on from their somewhat suggestive nickname, Super Dickmann are renowned not only for their chocolate-covered marshmallows with a wafer base (known as a Schokokuss), but also for their cheeky social media posts. They're a chocolate brand with a bit of personality, but in the wake of the Royal Wedding, they took things a little too far.
While the initial post from Super Dickmann has since been deleted (for reasons that will soon become apparent), Deutsche Welle, a German news outlet, used the powers of screenshot to bring you this Facebook post in all of its misguided, unfortunate glory.
Yep. That is indeed a depiction of Meghan Markle. But with Meghan Markle replaced with their trademark Schokokuss. A biracial woman depicted as a chocolate-covered marshmallow... how could this possibly go wrong? "What are you looking at? Wouldn't you also want to be Meghan for today?" cajoles the post, leaving us in no doubt that they're going for what we think they're going for.
Oh dear.
Blasted on Facebook, social media users branded the post "racist" and "pathetic", and in the wake of probably too many racist incidents involving renowned eateries (including Starbucks and Waffle House), Super Dickmann were forced to apologize for being super... well, y'know.
"A big pardon! The world of Super Dickmann's is colorful and diverse and far from racist thoughts," they backtracked, while spokesperson Bernd Roessler said that not enough thought had gone into the post. Still, this was not enough to spare Super Dickmann's even more rage on social media.
"Pathetic campaign, pathetic response. I hope there will be financial consequences for you," said one Facebook user, but it kind of pales in comparison to the harassment that Meghan Markle was subjected to in 2016, when Prince Harry was forced to release a statement telling news outlets to leave her alone.
"His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment. Some of this has been very public — the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments."
So yes, a pretty insensitive post to make - especially on Meghan Markle's wedding day - but here's to hoping that Super Dickmann have learned their lesson.