Interesting stuff. I figured it was racially loaded, of course, and I think that branding might have been done away with for several reasons in the same way that Robertson's jam did away with the 'golliwog', and Camp Coffee now has the Sikh dude sitting down next to the British army officer instead of serving him.

Interestingly, I once got pounced upon in an HP4GU chat by one of the American fandomers. We'd got onto discussing refuse collections for some reason, and I pointed out that the big plastic sacks we have here for domestic use are coloured black. For some reason this idiot got absolutely riled up about this and I still don't understand why. Well, I understand, but that's taking the racist conceit too far, surely?

But, my dear lady, I do hope you weren't suggesting clotted cream for breakfast. Some things simply aren't done, dontchaknow?