Dove hit by racism storm over advert
Black woman ‘changes’ into a white one in Facebook clip
‘Black skin’s not a tan you can remove’
sOAP brand dove has apologised for a ‘racist’ advert that appeared to show a black woman turning into a white one.
The firm said it ‘deeply regretted’ the Facebook video campaign after a social media backlash.
in the short clip, a black woman takes off her brown T-shirt to reveal a white woman in a paler top. she then removes her shirt to show an Asian woman.
But scores of furious online commenters called the campaign ‘fundamentally racist’. Many said the advert suggested black skin is dirty and white skin is clean, and highlighted a historical legacy of racism in soap ads. One user said: ‘dear dove, i assure you us “women of colour” have actual skin with colour, not a tan that you can remove. Thanks.’
Another asked dove: ‘how many people saw this ad? if someone raised a concern and you didn’t listen, please make them head of advertising.’
it is not the first time dove has been criticized for being racially insensitive. A 2011 advert was criticised when it showed two black women and a white one standing in front of ‘before’ and ‘after’ signs.
Abigail sewell, 34, a sociology professor at emory University in Atlanta, said she would no longer use dove products.
she wrote on Facebook: ‘dove’s marketing team is fundamentally racist. A clean body is not a white body. Black bodies aren’t systematically dirty.
‘i’ve used their products for ever, but it’s time to move on.’
Many had issues with the lacklustre apology dove offered to its customers.
sonia Gupta posted: ‘This is the most non-apology apology i’ve seen all week. What is that ad even supposed to mean?’ naomi Blake, a make-up artist, said dove’s marketing team should have known better, adding: ‘The tone deafness in these companies makes no sense.’
The brand, owned by consumer goods giant Unilever, deleted the video and issued an apology on Facebook, saying: ‘dove is committed to representing the beauty of diversity.
‘We missed the mark in thoughtfully representing women of colour and we deeply regret the offence that it has caused.
‘The feedback that has been shared is important to us and we’ll use it to guide us in the future.’ yesterday transgender model Munroe Bergdorf questioned whether the campaign was deliberately attempting to spark outrage. The model – who was sacked by L’Oreal after labelling ‘all white people’ racist – told iTV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘There is a precedent in the beauty industry that white is pure and light and fresh and black isn’t.’
Bergdorf said dove ‘missed the mark’ with its advert and needed to look at the team behind its marketing campaigns. she said: ‘This harks back to 19th century feelings, to adverts where children are depicted as black, scrubbing off their blackness and turning white. it makes you wonder if the crew is as diverse as the cast. There is a precedent in the beauty industry that white is pure and light and fresh and black isn’t.
‘They had a bottle that said from normal to dark skin – so what is normal? Why are they getting it wrong so many times? it makes you think, are they doing it on purpose?’
rival brand nivea was forced to remove an advert from Facebook earlier this year after it was labelled discriminatory. A commercial promoting the skincare brand’s ‘invisible’ deodorant range bore the slogan ‘white is purity’.