David “lives, eats, sleeps and rolls Banania”. This 54-year-old Seine-et-Marnais has had a mad passion for the brand of chocolate powder and its many by-products for over thirty years. To the point of collecting no less than 10,000 objects at home. And even to sleep in Banania sheets. "It all started with a metal box that my grandmother gave me when I was 18," he says. I immediately liked the colors, the yellow, the red and the graphics. So I started to hunt for it in flea markets. And thirty years later, I still continue to discover new things about the brand. I'll never grow tired ". And this despite the controversy. Considered discriminatory and racist, the slogan "Y'a bon" which appeared under the image of the Senegalese skirmisher in the first years, ended up in the eye of the storm.The manufacturer had to, in February 2006, agree to give it up definitively after a complaint from the collective of West Indians, Guyanese and Reunionese. “I can understand that people felt hurt. It is clear that such an advertising campaign could not have seen the light of day today, he acknowledges. But for me, the founder had no inclination towards racism. On the contrary, by choosing him as the central character on his products, he wanted to salute the role of skirmishers during the war. »the founder had no inclination towards racism. On the contrary, by choosing him as the central character on his products, he wanted to salute the role of skirmishers during the war. »the founder had no inclination towards racism. On the contrary, by choosing him as the central character on his products, he wanted to salute the role of skirmishers during the war. »
VIDEO.
Laurent, the collector with 400,000 metro tickets
The 50-year-old opened up his house in Boissise-le-Roi to us, where he has set up his den on the first floor.
As soon as we arrived, it was impossible to miss his customized yellow Skoda Banania, parked in front of the gate.
"I often use it to go to flea markets," explains David, who also wears his sweatshirt in the brand's colors that day with his emblematic figure sewn on the back.
“That way, people spot me quickly and it makes it easier for me to find people who might have Banania items to sell,” he smiles.
David is very proud to reveal his thirty years of discoveries to us.
In the two rooms entirely dedicated to Banania, metal and cardboard boxes pile up from floor to ceiling.
"I exhibit them according to the colors, the eras too".
Stuffed with rare pearls and unusual objects, such as this giant Banania bowl unearthed in an old shed or this "microscobana", a microscope offered by Banania to children in the 1950s, David is inevitably inexhaustible on the history of this brand, born in 1914. “There is so much to say, so many anecdotes to tell that I should write a book about them.
And why not open a museum one day”.
