Breakfast and Bigotry

This “brown people in adverts” outrage is properly mad, isn’t it? Let’s be clear, what Sarah Pochin said was racist. Anyone who isn’t racist wouldn’t be triggered by seeing brown people eating cornflakes. It’s not complex sociology, it’s breakfast.

But of course, along comes Farage, the people’s demagogue, to tell us we’ve all “taken it out of context.” You see, according to Nigel, if you squint, tilt your head, and forget what words mean, her racism wasn’t really racist. Just another day at the office for Team Reform.

The Business of Being Inclusive

The truth is, advertising is about money, not morality. Big corporations don’t care about diversity in any noble sense, they just want to flog more stuff. So, they throw in a mix of faces to reach as many wallets as possible.

If racists think cereal sales are tanking because a brown child appeared in a TV spot, they’re delusional. The marketing execs know exactly what they’re doing: they’ll lose a few frothing bigots who want Gary Neville deported, but they’ll gain far more people who are, broadly speaking, sane.

The Canary in the Coalmine

Maybe Pochin’s racist outburst wasn’t an accident – maybe it was a test balloon. A canary in the coalmine to measure just how many nutters would rush to her defence. “Say something appalling, see who salutes.”

Reform are under the microscope, so what better time to test the market for racism? If the polls bump up, they can claim she “said what everyone’s thinking.” If it tanks, they’ll wheel her out for the classic “sorry if anyone was offended” routine.

The Perfect Racism Ratio

You don’t have to be a racist to vote Reform but let’s be honest, it helps. Their challenge is a delicate one: how racist do they have to be to stay popular?

Push too far, employing boot boys, writing policies about blowing up dinghies or deporting the Windrush generation and they might scare off the “border control but not that border control” brigade who might defect back to the Tories. Go too soft, and they lose the flag-waving fascist maniacs who can’t spell “sovereignty” but can climb halfway up a lamppost with a St George’s flag made in China.

The Trumpian Test

So yes, it’s probably a policy straight from the Trump playbook. Say the unsayable, see what happens. If it lands, double down; if it doesn’t, deny, deflect, or mumble something about free speech, snowflakes and wokes.

Farage and Reform aren’t just racists, they’re racist grifters. Their real skill is working out the optimal racism dosage: just enough to keep the billionaire donations flowing and the merchandise shifting, without getting banned from Question Time for employing blackshirts.

We live in bizarre times.