Dove have landed themselves in hot, steamy water after a woefully misguided Facebook ad campaign.
They were accused of racism after showing an ad which featured a black woman removing her beige top to reveal a white woman in a pink top underneath all while a bottle of Dove body lotion nestled in the corner of the screen.
Dove apologised for 'racist' Facebook advert showing a black woman turning white after using @Dove lotion. pic.twitter.com/NGXyhnGuBZ
— Habeeb Akande (@Habeeb_Akande) October 8, 2017
The ad was almost immediately removed from their Facebook page after it immediately started to garner negative attention.
It was however shared by American make-up artist, whose online moniker is 'NayTheMua' before it was taken down.
Dove have since apologised for the ad, tweeting:
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An image we recently posted on Facebook missed the mark in representing women of color thoughtfully. We deeply regret the offense it caused.
— Dove (@Dove) October 7, 2017
The whole thing seems ludicrously misguided and its hard to imagine how it was ever released in the first place. This literally harkens back to the 19th century when similarly offensive advertising was employed for hygiene products.
While they stated in a reply to NayTheMua, before the ad was pulled, that this was not in any way the context of their ad, rather that it was to show its versatility for all skin tones, the content of it is rather despicable.
