Former Rare Staff
Dove is apologizing following backlash over what many are calling a racially insensitive Facebook ad.
Videos by Rare
The ad, used to market a soap product, depicts a black woman pulling a brown shirt over her head to reveal a white woman in a beige shirt underneath. A longer video shows a third woman in the ad.
So uh… #Dove – what’s happening here? pic.twitter.com/v0PzdtWTBc
— Chasity Cooper🍷🥂 (@chasityscooper) October 7, 2017
To be fair, there are 3 women in the ad: BLACK woman switches to WHITE then to BROWN. Should they reverse the order?🤔pic.twitter.com/imxCeVPHmR
— Hasdi Bravo 📎 (@HasdiBravo) October 8, 2017
It is unclear what the company is trying to convey in the ad, but the poor optics led to apologies on Facebook and Twitter. In both statements, the company acknowledged that they “missed the mark in thoughtfully representing women of color.”
Despite the apology, some couldn’t help but draw comparisons between portions of the ad and past racist depictions:
Let's be clear, Dove knew exactly what they were doing with their racist ad. Soap companies used to do this racist theme all the time pic.twitter.com/EzvAiExNcP
— Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸 (@tariqnasheed) October 8, 2017
Others remembered some of Dove’s previous controversies:
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
RELATED: Facebook says millions of Americans saw “divisive” election ads placed by Russian interests
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