Thai company slammed for accidentally using gay slur to sell ice cream

PinkNews logo on pink background with rainbow corners.

A Thai ice cream company has apologised after accidentally using a gay slur in a Facebook post promoting its ice cream.

Wall’s, Thailand, which is owned by Unilever, apologised after it showed black-bean flavoured ice cream alongside the caption #LoveWins.

The phrase ‘black beans’ is used in Thailand as a derogatory slang term describing gay sex.

After social media followers complained, Wall’s removed the post and has since replaced it with rainbow coloured ice cream.

BlackBean

The original post was made last week as the US Supreme Court ruled that all couples in America have a constitutional right to marriage.

The apology said the company was “sorry if the post created some misunderstanding” sayying they “did not mean to cause discomfort to anyone.”

Some Twitter users did not forgive Wall’s, writing messages with the hashtag ‘#RIPWallsThailnd’.

According to the BBC, the phrase arose in the 1930s, when a 17-year-old was arrested for running an underage prostitution ring in Bangkok.

As well as being known as Thua Dam, which translates as “black beans”, he was also thought to have used Thai black bean sweets to lure his victims.