German sweet maker accused of racism over 'stupid and embarrassing' post linked to Meghan Markle

One of Germany’s best known sweet makers has been plunged into a racism row after it compared the Duchess of Sussex to a chocolate marshmallow.

Super Dickmann’s was accused of racism over what appears to have been a remarkably  ill-judged attempt to mark the royal wedding.

The company posted an image of one of its most popular sweets wearing a wedding dress on Facebook.

“What are you looking at? Don’t you want to be Meghan today?” the post asked. The picture showed  a smiling Schokokuss, or “Chocolate Kiss” complete with tiara and waving to the camera.

A caption read “A foam in white” — which rhymes with “A dream in white” in German.

The post set off a storm of protest on social media from people accusing the company of a racist allusion to the Duchess’ African American heritage.

Public anger was heightened by the fact that chocolate marshmallows used to be popularly known in Germany as "Negerkuss" — or “Negro kiss”.

“Don’t buy from these people!!!!! They are racist,” a user calling herself Joanne posted on Twitter, while JennyImWestern tweeted: “Saw Dickmann's commercial and want to set something on fire #racist s***!”

To make matters worse, the company made a bungled initial attempt at an apology in the persona of a sweet: “Like all my pictures, the picture shows myself and it was my thoughts about the big wedding, my dream in white. I’m very sorry if I have set off other associations with it. A big apology. The world of Super Dickmann's is colorful and diverse and far from racist thoughts.”

The apology only served to increase the anger. “Poor ad, poor response. I hope this has economic consequences for you,” one person tweeted.

Super Dickmann’s  later deleted both posts and issued a full apology. Bernd Roessler, a spokesman for the company, said the post had been “stupid and embarrassing”.