If I took a poll of the most controversial ads of 2017, I am certain SheaMoisture & Dove would be among the top picks.
After taking some time to silently assess these controversial ads, do I really think the ads are racist?
Hear me out, I know it is easy to troll and cancel brands but at some point the issues have to be addressed. “Racist” is a strong term and one I don’t feel comfortable using lightly. I would hate to label a brand as racist for missing the mark. There is no doubt there are relevant areas of concern that need to be addressed.
Before you drag me, hear me out.
Let’s start with SheaMoisture’s product commercial released in April 2017 that was eventually pulled. The ad featured messages about hair hate, and ending with a message about embracing your hair. Admittedly, I totally missed this the first time around. The ad featured three white women and one woman of color, and I believe all races face hate bias, so that part I got. However, women of color consistently face hair hate that has been widely ignored. They face an array of judgment from society including workplace discrimination, and let’s not forget limited media representation. Really the list goes on, so I can see how this ad was viewed as controversial. Many people critiqued SheaMoisture for minimizing the struggles of WOC.
In response, SheaMoisture pulled the ad and posted to their Facebook.
“Wow, okay – so guys, listen, we really f-ed this one up,” the team stated; see full apology here. I think the brand messed up by drawing the conclusion that white women face hair shame as much as women of color.
I mean we all know that’s just not true.
To be fair, SheaMoisture is not the only company that went viral for beauty ads released this year. I mean, we can’t forget about Dove.
I will admit, I slept on that Dove campaign.
By the time I had seen the news, the controversial ad was already pulled and the company had apologized. I was hesitant to even look it up because I feel Dove has a history of toeing the line. They have had many ads that have been deemed controversial, and at this point I expected their team would have stopped these types of ads from hitting the market.
The internet couldn’t wait to drag Dove, I (lowkey”> commend Dove for responding. Because at the point, it seems like the damage was already done. So let’s get into the beauty ad controversy. The beauty ad featured three different women of different races taking off their shirts to reveal another woman. See some of the ad here. It seems most people couldn’t get past an African American woman essentially turning into a White woman. Rightfully so. I think the ad felt more confused than anything. I couldn’t help thinking, “what does this have to do with Dove body wash though?”
Dove released a statement to Twitter, stating “The short video was intended to convey that Dove body wash is for every woman and be a celebration of diversity, but we got it wrong.”
The real question: how many times can a brand get it wrong?
And how to we start the conversation?
Are we canceling brands prematurely? Am I trippin’?
Let’s discuss how you really feel.
