One year after the death of U.S. citizen George Floyd by police violence, Spain Post issued four stamps on the theme of "Equality" on May 25, 2021. The stamps were designed in collaboration with the anti-racism federation "SOS Racismo”. Each of the stamps was to represent a skin color. The face value of the stamps became less from lighter to darker color. Thus, the lightest color stamp had a face value of 1.60 Euro, while the darkest stamp had a value of 0.70 Euro. According to Spanish Post, the stamps were intended to represent a “painful reality that should not be allowed."

The stamps triggered a shit storm on social media, as the stamps were perceived as racist because of the distribution of the face values, so that dark skin colors would be represented as having less value. The stamps thus achieved the opposite of the intended effect in the public perception. They were withdrawn from sale after 3 days.

Equality stamps on cardboard

Folder for cardboard