Hillbrey Jonas
If you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard about the controversy surrounding the dove ad, I have all the information you need on what happened. The original ad was a gif where a black woman takes off her brown shirt to reveal a white woman with a lighter-coloured shirt, who then takes off her shirt to reveal another woman of colour in a darker shirt.
This video had social media in an uproar, calling it racist and leading to the removal of the video by Dove. The brand apologized and said that ‘the ad did not represent the diversity of real beauty which is something Dove is passionate about and is core to our beliefs’. Since then, a picture of 4 screenshots from the clip has been circulating on the internet, only showing the black woman taking off her top to reveal the white woman. The image has been criticised for suggesting black skin is ‘dirty’ and light skin is ‘clean’.
This isn’t the first time that an ad received really bad attention this year. Who can forget the Pepsi ad featuring Kendall Jenner who had a lot of people furious earlier this year. But according to a marketing agency, the Pepsi controversy is a small mishap compared to the Dove incident.
It’s most disappointing to woman who has been using this brand for years. The brand for ‘everyday women’, promoting ‘self-love’ and ‘real beauty’. A lot of Dove customers has also stated that they’ll definitely be replacing their Dove products.
The black woman, Lola Ogunyemi, who featured in the ad, recently shared her story in an essay in The Guardian. “If I had the slightest inclination that I would be portrayed as inferior, or as the ‘before’ in a before and after shot, I would be the first to say an emphatic ‘no’.” She also goes on to say that the ad have been misconstrued due to the edit, but that advertisers need to look beyond the surface and consider the impact their images may have. We couldn’t agree more!
