Criticism over Spanish Post Office 'anti-racist' postage stamps

BarcelonaThey have named them as Equality Stamps, but Correos' supposedly anti-racist advertising campaign has turned out so badly that its good intentions have been read as a reaffirmation of the structural racism it wants to fight. Coinciding with the European Month of Diversity and the first anniversary of the murder of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis, the state company has put into circulation a collection of stamps imitating different skin tones, and increasing their price as they become lighter. The result is that the stamp of less value (0,70 euros) is the darkest and in progression the most expensive is the lightest (1,60 euros).

But Correos maintains that it is precisely this inequality that it intends to make visible. "The darker the stamp, the less value it will have", explained the company in the press release of the campaign. "Therefore, when sending a letter, more black stamps than white ones will have to be used. In this way, every letter and every mailing will be a reflection of the inequality created by racism".

The explanation has not convinced everyone, and the networks are full of criticism because the stamps devalue the darker colours and thus reproduce the discrimination and inequalities of the real world, as well as for the lack of diversity of the corporate leadership of Correos. The campaign has the support of the state federation of SOS Racismo, but the Catalan branch of SOS Racisme has also expressed its disagreement on Twitter with a message that "reinforces racial hierarchies, which is the basis of racism, and misuses the construction of racial categories".