Accusation of racism: Dove apologizes for washing gel advertisement
The cosmetics company Dove has apologized for a shower gel commercial that had been criticized as racist. Dove explained on Twitter that women with black skin had not been portrayed appropriately in the commercial.
The controversial ad on the Facebook page in the U.S. has been removed. The three-second video on Facebook showed a Black woman taking off her T-shirt. A white woman then appears, pulling her shirt over her head, revealing a third woman underneath. The ad was widely criticized online as racist.
An image we recently posted on Facebook failed to portray women of color in a thoughtful way. We deeply regret the offense it caused.
— Dove (@Dove) October 7, 2017
«Is being Black dirty and undesirable?» asked an outraged user who called for a boycott of Dove products and its Dutch parent company, Unilever. The ad was «racist, irresponsible, insensitive, (…) offensive,» one Twitter user declared. The hashtag ##BoycottDove quickly gained traction. (SDA)
