Consumers Call Out Dove’s ‘Real Campaign’ as Tone Deaf + Racist
How can Dove ask consumers to be real, when they can’t grasp being real themselves.
Dove is in the hot seat again after posting a video ad on Facebook which shows a woman of color removing a brown tee shirt to reveal a white woman in a lighter tee shirt after using their product. The ad was heavily criticized after it was posted on Facebook. As if they haven’t learned anything from their past racist ad blunders, they are under fire once again for being tone deaf on race.
Could this be because brands fail to hire black executives in the marketing and creative rooms? Ad agencies are also known to discriminate and not hire black executives or creatives. It’s like we are revisiting that infamous Pepsi ad all over again. Marketing and creative teams are trying to “look” diverse but they are getting diversity all wrong. You actually have to care about the people you market to and represent them honestly. That would mean bending your rules on hiring and allowing people of color into the marketing and creative board room and also demanding that ad agencies do the same. Right now less than 3% of creative executives are people of color out of 9000 executives nationwide.
So while Dove is asking you to be “real” they have some changes to make in realizing that posting new shades of nudes on their ads doesn’t deflect from their racially insensitive ads. It’s not that hard to make a great ad when you have a huge budget. You just have to actually hire a diverse team to create diverse ads. Shouldn’t your executive team match your ad campaign?
This is not the first time Dove has been called out for racist ads. They published what appears to be a black woman standing in front of the “before” skin which is bad, progressing to the right with a white woman standing in front of the “after” image of nourished skin. They have also used the word “normal” to describe white skin. Read some of the comments from consumers below.
You have done it in the past. pic.twitter.com/qaGG10bePw
— Nonhlanhla Mabhena (@N0n0zA) October 7, 2017
— jonalisa (@jonalisag) October 8, 2017
Dove is losing customers by the minute as shown from social media posts.
Oh I’m aware of this and the apology that followed. That’s why their recent ad won’t fly with me and neither will the apology.
— Toya (@WhatsGoodToya) October 8, 2017
Normal to dark skin? What is normal skin to y’all https://t.co/QFcDvz37QC
— C❤️NDY (@browncandy) October 7, 2017
Missed the mark before and again… I know you will keep missing. Weak apology @dove soap banned in my house. pic.twitter.com/LixxEFXBXe
— keepitreal (@mrstazozo) October 8, 2017
Lol did this even look right to y’all? I mean your whole team sat down and cleared this bull— right here? How? pic.twitter.com/WzsZfpkxAr
— Musimbwa (@UNcubeOthungayo) October 7, 2017
Dove issued a statement that could be considered an apology. “An image we recently posted on Facebook missed the mark in representing women of color thoughtfully. We deeply regret the offense it caused,” read their statement, posted to Twitter.
Photo: Screen Grab from Dove Facebook Sponsored Post
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