Dove has apologised for an ad that showed a black woman turning into a white woman after supposedly using one of their products, after literally thousands of people told the company it was racist.
The ad has since been deleted, but was shared by makeup artist Naomi Blake (who goes by NayTheMua).
“So I’m scrolling through Facebook and this is the #dove ad that comes up,” she wrote. “Ok so what am I looking at…..”
The third (and final) woman it changed into was a woman of middle eastern appearance (screenshot via NayTheMua).
“I guess it’s saying it’s diverse for all woman,” said one commenter, Aundrea McRea. “A little bit of bad advertisement but I get it.”
“Yes I could see where they tried but really they didn’t have no black person at the company to say no,” replied NayTheMua.
When another commenter asked if she would still feel the were racist if it showed a white woman turning into a black woman, she replied:
“Nope, we wouldn’t and that’s the whole point. What does America tell black people… that we are judged by the colour of our skin and that includes what is considered beautiful in this country. They believe lighter representations should be at the forefront, and that the darker you are the less beautiful and to know that colourism is a problem in the world.
“The tone deafness in these companies makes no sense.”
Dove, which is owned by UniLever, removed the ad and apologised for its racist overtones
“An image we recently posted on Facebook missed the mark in representing women of colour thoughtfully. We deeply regret the offence it caused,” it said.
However, many people felt that it was an issue of too little, too late, including filmmaker Ava DuVernay and CNN political commentator Keith Boykin.
You can do better than “missed the mark.” Flip + diminishing. Deepens your offense. You do good work. Have been for years. Do better here.
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) October 8, 2017
Okay, Dove…
One racist ad makes you suspect.
Two racist ads makes you kinda guilty. pic.twitter.com/hAwNCN84h2— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) October 8, 2017
The second ad in that tweet was from 2011, when Dove released a body wash ad showing three women of differing skin tones standing in a row. The woman with the darkest skin was under the ‘before’ banner, while the woman with the lightest skin was under ‘after’.
“Visibly more beautiful skin,” the tagline read.
At the time, Dove told Gawker that all three women were “intended to demonstrate the ‘after’ product benefit”, but uh…. that message might not have been clearly communicated to the art director.
Trans model Munroe Bergdorf perhaps put it best: “Diversity is viewed as a buzzword or a trend. An opportunity to sell products to women of colour. Dove – do better.”
https://twitter.com/MunroeBergdorf/status/917004419031543808
