Svitanak factory about t-shirts “I'm Bulbash”: We had no intention of offending anyone

The Belarusian knitwear producer Svitanak released t-shirts depicting a man with a moustache wearing a hat and the text “I'm Bulbash. I like bulba”.

It provoked an outrage among people. Bulbash is a derogatory name of the Belarusians, and bulba is potato in Belarusian. Many regard such words on t-shirts as a display of disrespect for the nation. Maybe they are right – it is hardly possible to imagine a Ukrainian t-shirt “I'm khakhol” or a Russian one “I'm maskal”, Nasha Niva newspaper writes.

“We carried out a poll at the extended meeting of the creative review committee before the release of the t-shirts. The meeting involved trade organisations from Belarus and Russia that buy our products. A decision on whether to release a model or not is taken by members of the committee,” acting director of Svitanak company Aliaksandr Rubantsau said. “If people think it looks wrong, I can say that we do not make these t-shirts any more.

Our aim is to observe laws and satisfy our consumers. We react to all complaints properly. We had no intention of offending anyone”.