In my opinion, Dove has always been good at making their products, commercials, and advertisement very diverse. They have reached out their hair product line to accommodate women with curly hair. They have lotions and soaps for all skin types and every time I see an advertisement or a commercial, there are many different types of women in all shades, sizes, and smiles! I love it! But I think this time, Dove really messed up…
If you have not seen it by now (because Dove quickly realized their mistake and took it down), there was an advertisement and a commercial that did not sit well with the African American community. Many saw that it was racist and out of character for Dove to advertise such material! It didn’t match what they were previously presenting to us. When I first saw it on my timeline, I was so shocked that the company even allowed this to leave the office. In the picture advertisement, there were three women. The black woman was on the far left, a lighter woman who looked Hispanic was in the middle, and then there was the white woman at the end. Above them was before, which was placed above the black woman and after, which was placed above the white woman. To everyone, it looked really bad. It was basically presenting that if an African America woman uses Dove, after she will look white. *Silence* I know right! I love my skin and I am not trying to do anything by all mines to erase it. I was hurt so I decided to take a closer look. I looked up the picture on google to try to investigate the true meaning be hide this advertisement.
I brought down my shield and tried to see the bigger picture. In the back ground of the three women were two different types of skin: one that was crusty and cracked which was under the before and then one that was smooth and silky which was under the after. So, I see what they were trying to do but I guess they didn’t realize that also under the before and after was the black women and the white women…It was just terrible planning and in a world like this, sadly, you have to walk like you are walking on broken glass because everyone feels like they are being attacked and it is not their fault. It is societies fault. Many African American women have been teased, criticize, mistreated, and excluded all because of their skin color. Even, I have experienced that! It hurts when you get mistreated over something you physically cannot change. I was born this way and I do not want to change anything about myself, but from the advertisement, it almost seemed as though Dove was trying to market something that allowed women of color to “get out” of their skin. So, seeing this advertisement with a black woman basically using this soap to turn herself white made many upsets.
Now, I was unable to catch the commercial cause Dove was so quick on their feet but the commercial was unacceptable as well. I was told that it was showing a black woman changing clothes and then at the end it reviled a white woman….
Dove, you just have to be more careful. All women and men of different shades and backgrounds buy Dove and you would have to lose them because your advertisement committee was being careless. Our world has grown into a place where women and men no longer stand for disrespect for a race, gender, and anything else that makes someone “different” from the “norm”. Not only did you offend African Americans but you offended American women. Men won’t stand for it and women won’t either… I am glad that you as a company apologized but Dove, you gotta do better. Don’t let this happen again!
Love,
All the “before” woman