The Internet never forgets, and the Twitter detectives are always looking to find a case. Thanks to social media, more brands are finding the need to defend the representation in their advertisements.
Case in point: Nivea. The German-born brand of beauty products has already come under fire for its controversial choice of advertisements. The African-American community, in particular, has found their choice of copywriting…problematic.
Curious as to what those ads look like? Check them out below!
Here the ad depicts a black man throwing away his “nappy-haired” head in favor of a more subdued look. The words “look like you give a damn” can be seen right next to his face. Why Nivea chose to go anywhere near this subject is beyond me.
Of course, they didn’t stop there.
Designed to promote their latest deodorant, the tagline for their visual reads “white is purity.” Naturally, you can guess what happened next.
#Nivea: the official moisturizer/anti-perspirant of the #AltRight pic.twitter.com/7Gz8PI3Ft4
— Cecilia Davenport (@CWDaven) April 3, 2017
Everyone: That Pepsi ad is the worst most offensive ad of 2017.
Nivea: Hold my beer pic.twitter.com/6c0lp4ckvw— Olly (@WorldOfOlly) April 7, 2017
This week:
-Paramount says “Ghost in the Shell” flopped bc of the white washing controversy.
-Pepsi pulls an ad.
-Nivea does too.✊🏾📲
— Shaun Scott (@eyesonthestorm) April 6, 2017
Nivea FB post yest (they took it dwn) and the Pepsi ad 2day. These glaring missteps are directly related to lack of internal inclusiveness pic.twitter.com/jyB17i9tM8
— Sakita Holley (@MissSuccess) April 4, 2017
Unable to come up with any sort of plausible defense, Nivea simply took the ad down like nothing happened. Clearly, the advertisement firm needs to do some house cleaning. I know it’s become “en vogue” to be skeptical of the word “agenda,” but there’s obviously something at work here.
What do you think?