New York: Later on publishing an advert on its Facebook page which showed a black woman turning into a white woman, Dove has apologised for it.
The advert showed a black woman removing her top to reveal a white woman underneath supposedly after using Dove body lotion.
The brand was accused of racism over the online advertising campaign and it later remarked it had “missed the mark” by posting an image on Facebook.
Though the advert was withdrawn from Facebook, it was shared by Naomi Blake, an American makeup artist who goes by the name Naythemua.
“So I’m scrolling through Facebook and this is the #dove ad that comes up … ok so what am I looking at,” she had captioned her share.
Under the post, she was asked if people would be offended if the white woman had turned into a black woman. She said: “Nope, we wouldn’t and that’s the whole point. What does America tell black people? That we are judged by the color of our skin and that includes what is considered beautiful in this country.”
She added that Dove’s marketing team should have known better and said “the tone deafness in these companies makes no sense”.
Following the removal of the advert, Dove, which is owned by Unilever, tweeted: “An image we recently posted on Facebook missed the mark in representing women of colour thoughtfully. We deeply regret the offence it caused.”
In a further statement Dove said: “As a part of a campaign for Dove body wash, a three-second video clip was posted to the US Facebook page. This did not represent the diversity of real beauty which is something Dove is passionate about and is core to our beliefs, and it should not have happened. We have removed the post and have not published any other related content. We apologise deeply and sincerely for the offence that it has caused. However the brand has made a negative mark, with almost 3000 comments below its tweet, which were mostly negative. Many social media users called for a boycott of Dove’s products”.
