Model in ‘racist’ Dove ad says it was misinterpreted

Full version of commercial covers 7 ethnic backgrounds, explains Black woman in ad

When Dove asked Lola Ogunyemi to be in a new soap campaign, she viewed it as an opportunity to represent her “dark-skinned sisters” and “remind the world that we are here, we are beautiful and, more importantly, we are valued,” she wrote in a commentary for the Guardian.

She was shocked to wake up one recent morning to find she had become the “unwitting poster child for racist advertising.”

“If you Google ‘racist ad’ right now, a picture of my face is the first result,” Ogunyemi said in the commentary published Tuesday.

The recently released Dove body wash ad drew widespread outrage for showing a Black woman — Ogunyemi — removing her shirt to reveal a white woman. To scores of consumers, the images invoked a message that dark skin is dirty and in need of cleansing, a racist stereotype historically seen in soap ads, as the Washington Post’s Cleve R. Wootson Jr. reported.

Dove removed the ad and issued an apology Saturday, saying it “missed the mark in representing women of colour thoughtfully.”

But Ogunyemi has a message for critics: “I am not a victim.”

While members of the public were justified in their initial anger, she said, the photos posted online were misinterpreted, and left out important context. Most of the images showed only Ogunyemi and the white woman that followed her. But the full video clip actually showed the white woman changing her top to reveal a third woman, who is Asian, Ogunyemi said.

“My friends and family loved it,” Ogunyemi said, adding that she was proud of the ad.

“I am a Nigerian woman, born in London and raised in Atlanta,” she wrote. “I’ve grown up very aware of society’s opinion that dark-skinned people, especially women, would look better if our skin were lighter.”

The complete, 30-second television commercial, Ogunyemi said, actually showed seven models, of various ethnic backgrounds, answering the question: “If your skin were a wash label, what would it say?”

Even after seeing the final edited version, Ogunyemi loved the concept and was “over the moon” when she saw the final product.