Commercials being marked as racist or sexist isn’t uncommon in the advertising world. Most times it’s intentional to get people talking about it, but other times it’s done without the company even knowing they’re in the wrong. One company that’s been in the media lately for another racist scandal is Dove. In the ad, which can be found here, a woman of color takes off her shirt, which is the same color as her skin tone, to reveal a white woman wearing a shirt that matches her skin tone, that woman then takes off her shirt to reveal a mixed woman with the same color shirt as her skin tone.
There are many messages from this ad that can be taken multiple ways, one being that the ad is blatantly racist and compares washing your skin with Dove products to the process of skin bleaching. Another argument for this ad could be that it’s trying to be inclusive, showing that Dove is for everyone. Since, the models are wearing their own shade of “nude” it could be a possibility. However, the way they went about it was all wrong.
The Owner of Dove apologized, writing on Facebook: “Dove is committed to representing the beauty of diversity. In an image we posted this week, we missed the mark in thoughtfully representing women of color and we deeply regret the offense that it has caused.”
A spokeswoman for Dove, Marissa Solan, added that the GIF “was intended to convey that Dove Body Wash is for every woman and be a celebration of diversity, but we got it wrong and, as a result, offended many people.”
Either way, it’s definitely got people talking.