White King
Encyclopedia
Bleach
Bleach refers to a number of chemicals that remove color, whiten, or disinfect, often via oxidation. Common chemical bleaches include household chlorine bleach , lye, oxygen bleach , and bleaching powder...
used in a variety of cleaning applications including washing
Washing
Washing is one way of cleaning, namely with water and often some kind of soap or detergent. Washing is an essential part of good hygiene and health....
of clothing
Clothing
Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...
and cleaning of mould from bathroom
Bathroom
A bathroom is a room for bathing in containing a bathtub and/or a shower and optionally a toilet, a sink/hand basin/wash basin and possibly also a bidet....
tiles. The product is sold in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and can be found in supermarkets including Coles
Coles Supermarkets
Coles Supermarkets is an Australian supermarket chain owned by Wesfarmers. It has 741 stores nationally Coles Supermarkets is an Australian supermarket chain owned by Wesfarmers. It has 741 stores nationally Coles Supermarkets is an Australian supermarket chain owned by Wesfarmers. It has 741...
and Safeway. Symex bought the company from Sara Lee
Sara Lee
Sara Lee Corporation is a global consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois, USA. It has operations in more than 40 countries and sells its products in over 180 nations worldwide...
in 2010.
In 2001, the product became embroiled in controversy when Joshua Mackenzie, then president of the Australian Council of Civil Liberties, launched legal action in the Victorian Supreme Court against the Sara Lee Household & Body Care Pty Ltd, White King’s manufacturer at the time. Mackenzie claimed that his action was a test of Victoria’s recently introduced racial vilification legislation, and that he was acting in the interests of eradicating the “institutionalised racism that has become prevalent within advertising and marketing”. Mackenzie stated that "Perhaps in the 1950s it was acceptable to produce a product with such a clearly racist name. This action is to show that we have moved on, and an enlightened society no longer accepts this kind of veiled neo-Nazism." The Australian Council of Civil Liberties lost the case and was ordered to pay Sara Lee’s costs.