The Queensland Government has been forced to remove a Facebook ad for its education department after it was slammed as “racist” and “harmful”.
The ad, which appeared on the Facebook page of Teach Queensland on the eve of Indigenous Literacy Day, showed four young indigenous boys sitting around a white female teacher.
It was meant to encourage teachers to work in remote and Aboriginal communities.
The caption read: “I always had a soft spot for troublemakers, those misunderstood, and the kid that everyone thought wouldn’t make it.”
The ad in question has faced a huge amount of backlash for persuading dangerous stereotypes.
One of the children in the picture is the son of Dr Chelsea Bond, an academic at the University of Queensland and she was appalled by the use of her son’s image on the poster.
She took to Twitter to say: "This is my actual child in this photo. He is not a troublemaker. He is pretty smart."
https://twitter.com/drcbond/status/905229263850192897Teach Queensland took to Facebook to apologise for the ad.
"We would like to apologise for yesterday's Teachers of Queensland post and for the offence we have caused. We have removed the post and are reviewing our processes to ensure this doesn’t happen again," Teach Queensland said.
One Facebook user responded to the apology saying: Sweet non-apology. "Sorry you were offended... By us perpetuating racial stereotypes". There. That's better."
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.