Dove’s ‘Racist’ Ad Angers People, And They Can’t Believe It Actually Happened In 2017
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World-renowned soap company Dove is officially knees-deep in controversy, and it’s definitely not something that’s going to wash away. They’re being accused of racism after publishing an ad which shows a black woman taking off her shirt to reveal a white woman ‘underneath.’ Understandably, we’re all pretty confused as to how this made it out of the boardroom.
Dove was quick to pull the offending video, and has since apologized for ‘missing the mark’ on their representation of diversity. The damage is done, however, and hell hath no fury like an Internet scorned. People all over Twitter and other social media are calling BS on the company’s claimed ‘regret,’ and are comparing the ad to the infamous Pears’ Soap campaign from the 1800’s, which displayed black children being ‘scrubbed clean’ and turning white. Some are even calling for a boycott, highlighting previous problematic Dove commercials as further grounds.
“Dear Dove, I assure you us ‘women of colour’ have actual skin with colour, not a tan that you can remove. Thanks,” one user poignantly commented. Scroll down to see more reactions, and add your own voice at the end.
Dove recently launched a body wash ad that has people feeling just a little bit confused
You’ve probably guessed by now that people were raging
Even more embarrassingly, it seems that Dove is a repeat offender when it comes to offensive ads
People are even comparing Dove’s ads to the infamous Pears’ Soap campaign of the 1800’s
Dove pretty much had no option but to apologize
It wasn’t exactly accepted, however
Some argued that the whole thing was an honest mistake, and that people are overreacting
What’s the biggest issue here in your book? Tell us below!
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I am a black woman and I don't use Dove. I must say, I don't see how this ad is racist. Yes when I looked at the above picture I was like, "ok, there might be something here". But then I searched for and watched the video and ow, the white lady turns into a Mexican, is that racist too? I think sometimes people can be too sensitive or maybe they were affected by racism so bad that they see it everywhere and in anything. I may be wrong here but I thought Dove was trying to show that the soap can be used by any one for any skin color. I understand that there are racist people out there and that it is very bad and life threatening in some places, but to see racism in everything can't be right. But then again people are free to have their views. I
It's too bad that a lot of people aren't going to go find the ad to see for themselves, but just get angry at the out-of-context bit that has been presented to them.
Came here to say that. I can't find the ad to watch at all. Everywhere it's just people talking about this with that one still image. They clearly want to bury the rest of the ad on purpose so everybody who hasn't seen it yet is forced to have this biased view.
This happens too frequently. You're viewing something on the internet, so why not use the internet to find the actual video? I see this all the time on Twitter, and I've gotten to the point where I'm tired of going "Hey, this is out of context."
You've got remember Dove's target base is for people with 'sensitive' skin so of course this was going to offend
You are a genius xD
I see what you did there. Good Job.
Wow now I am sorry I clicked on this. Shame on you boredpanda.
I did just that when I saw above someone mentioned a latino woman. Just googled 'The full dove ad' to see at least some of it. No way is the ad saying she washed and became a white woman, or washed again and became latino. It was just a way of showing different skin colours. Next time I guess they'll put the white woman last, but ridiculous how, even in this story, they don't show the full ad, just bits that make it look as bad as possible.
thank you for the common sense response; I ,too, saw it this way.
Nicely said, Ntosh. Seeing just the pictures in this article, even I (as a white man), am offended but with this being only part of the whole as you point out, there is just a wee bit of overreaction as per the norm nowadays.
I completely agree with you. The media is just trying to find a new story.
I think I love you. You are rational and real. Thank you so very much for making my day less stressful.
You wrote"....turns into a Mexican,...." *sigh* You were looking for "...turns into a Hispanic woman,..." Because there are 33 Latin American Nations, including Mexico, and assuming that every Hispanic person you run into is equally stereotypical to this very perverse ad.
They are not slandering. Hehe
In think you are forgetting Native American. The point is they are not trying to be offensive so no point in correcting them. It just makes it worse. For example: every Oreo is a cookie, but not every cookie is an Oreo. The point is you understand what they are saying and they are not trying to be offensive when they say it. What if that person has never seen another person with that skin other than some one of Mexican decent. They are slandering just speaking to what they know. This is actually common in other countries where the mix of people is not as diverse as say North America.
It was the placement that was very unfortunate-especially the black women under the "before" title to the white women under the "after" title. I had trouble even figuring out what they were trying to say. Besides appearing racist it is also just really, really bad advertising.
You need to read the article better. The outrage isn't over the full video, it's with stills adds drawn FROM the video. Dove used stills from the video as internet ads, one of the stills was from the section where a black woman becomes a white woman. They made the mistake of using the still from the video without the greater context of the full video ad, which inadvertently made it racist. But it cannot be denied that the "for NORMAL to dark skin" printed on the bottle is in fact racist, in that it says NORMAL instead of LIGHT...implying DIRECTLY that white/light skin is normal and dark/brown skin is OTHER/DIFFERENT. Using whiteness as the default standard is racist in and of itself...also you've not addressed that other problematic ad where the skin is dry and unattractive on the left, and smooth and attractive on the right (while organizing the women from left to right by darkness of their skin underneath the pictures of skin) is also racist...if even unintentionally so.
Great thoughts, Ntosh! I feel like we can find offense wherever we look these days... if we choose to. Even the apology was suspect here. We can't read the text because we are so busy reading between the lines.
Thanks. I didn't know that it was taken out of context...
I agree. People are going to complain. Maybe their delivery was wrong, but they are talking about skin colours! We are all different and we all have different skins colours. We have lighter skin to darker skin. Why are people so delicate these days.
Libtards see racism everywhere. All I see is an "inclusive" advertisement.
Yes ,Ntosh you have really missed the point that this is blatant racism...I'm a 69 yo white female and I see it.
Yeah, totally agree with you. Nowaday everything that has black people is considered freaking racist lol .... And that's exactly the reason making those real racist people hate different color people even more... Well the ad itself ain't any good but they're simply trying to express that the soap will make your skin brighter, what's wrong with that lol...
Also if this is racist then I guess Micheal Jackson is racist too....since his MV black and white also has similar scenes LOL
I don't see it as racist simply because the white lady transitions into a Latino woman? Clearly, people of all skin types can use dove? Or is that something we are going to ignore to make something out of nothing.
Exactly. That's why only the first sequence is shown. Because black -> white is racist and white -> Latina is no problem. White -> black is probably not a problem either. Sad that this culture of feeling offended by everything hardly ever tackles the roots of the issues we have with racism (positive AND negative)
And if they had put the white woman before the black woman- it would have been racist too because you'll get why is the white woman always first- can't win in this world- so tired of all this- we are human beings people!!!
To be honest, this was so badly taken out of context I had to read these comments to realise how badly out of context it was.
It's just a misplacement, I think. Sort of hit and miss thing.
Just like the other "racist" ad too, it's about the cracked, rough skin turning more even and soft, but because the black woman is closer to the "before" it's somehow racist. Took me a while to even realize what could possibly be racist about it.
Yeah, this is crazy, the only thing that could even be considered is the from normal to dark skin, but the rest is just showing that everyone can use Dove soap
beside, the black woman who starred in this already talk to the press, and she think that the ad was taken out of context, and the ad was to promote diversity, not racism. See this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/41586402/model-in-racist-dove-ad-speaks-out
THANK YOU!
This ad is showing a black woman turn into a white woman and a white woman turn into a Hispanic woman. When will the world see this as a sign of unity, that we can all use dove soap...
Knowing our society now, probably never.
UNITY...seriously..???? You've got to be kidding me.....look again...
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but why wouldn't we ALL be able to use Dove soap though? I mean really... What does skin color have to do with what soap you use?
My best friend was black (she passed away) and she used to tell me that she couldn’t use just any soap because she had problems with “ashy” skin (not sure what she meant by that) and that some soaps would make it worse. So I get it when they say “for all skin types”.
Skin color or more like skin type vary a lot according to regional differences. If we're gonna agree that Afro hair, Asian hair and Caucasian hair types have differences, we better start admitting that skin types have too. Usually people from Africa, the Caribbean and South America have a drier skin (due to DNA evolution in those areas) while Asians have a more puffy skin, for example. That is not racist to admit that A product suits you better than B, because you come from a certain place, or your ancestors did.
Ivory is 99 44/100th pure, so pure it floats... But then so do my turds
The skin only allows certain amount of ultraviolet radiation to be passed through the skin, and that's because the body synthesizes vitamin D from sunlight, which helps it absorb calcium but excessive solar radiation can cause DNA damage to the skin. So, the higher the ultraviolet radiation in your area the darker the skin to protect itself from excess of radiation. How would soap affect your skin, skin color and health? Well, typical soap washes off some of the vitamin D that lays on the surface of the skin, dark skinned people living in weak sunlight areas already have vitamin D deficiency and losing what's left on their skin could cause low heart function, diabetes, alzheimer, depression and tiredness, or poor appetite, nausea and vomiting in case of vitamin D toxicity. I started having most of these symptoms when i used to stay indoor or away from sunlight most of the time during college before i knew this.
Bobbi, I'm sorry to hear about your friend, but skin type and skin colour are two different categories. It's whether your skin is dry, oily, mixed, sensitive etc. For example, I am caucasian with dry skin, of course I'll opt for products that claim higher moisture and a light, not too acidic formula, and I'll avoid products that contain alcohol. So, you see, I can't use just any soap either.
I am a black woman and I don't use Dove. I must say, I don't see how this ad is racist. Yes when I looked at the above picture I was like, "ok, there might be something here". But then I searched for and watched the video and ow, the white lady turns into a Mexican, is that racist too? I think sometimes people can be too sensitive or maybe they were affected by racism so bad that they see it everywhere and in anything. I may be wrong here but I thought Dove was trying to show that the soap can be used by any one for any skin color. I understand that there are racist people out there and that it is very bad and life threatening in some places, but to see racism in everything can't be right. But then again people are free to have their views. I
It's too bad that a lot of people aren't going to go find the ad to see for themselves, but just get angry at the out-of-context bit that has been presented to them.
Came here to say that. I can't find the ad to watch at all. Everywhere it's just people talking about this with that one still image. They clearly want to bury the rest of the ad on purpose so everybody who hasn't seen it yet is forced to have this biased view.
This happens too frequently. You're viewing something on the internet, so why not use the internet to find the actual video? I see this all the time on Twitter, and I've gotten to the point where I'm tired of going "Hey, this is out of context."
You've got remember Dove's target base is for people with 'sensitive' skin so of course this was going to offend
You are a genius xD
I see what you did there. Good Job.
Wow now I am sorry I clicked on this. Shame on you boredpanda.
I did just that when I saw above someone mentioned a latino woman. Just googled 'The full dove ad' to see at least some of it. No way is the ad saying she washed and became a white woman, or washed again and became latino. It was just a way of showing different skin colours. Next time I guess they'll put the white woman last, but ridiculous how, even in this story, they don't show the full ad, just bits that make it look as bad as possible.
thank you for the common sense response; I ,too, saw it this way.
Nicely said, Ntosh. Seeing just the pictures in this article, even I (as a white man), am offended but with this being only part of the whole as you point out, there is just a wee bit of overreaction as per the norm nowadays.
I completely agree with you. The media is just trying to find a new story.
I think I love you. You are rational and real. Thank you so very much for making my day less stressful.
You wrote"....turns into a Mexican,...." *sigh* You were looking for "...turns into a Hispanic woman,..." Because there are 33 Latin American Nations, including Mexico, and assuming that every Hispanic person you run into is equally stereotypical to this very perverse ad.
They are not slandering. Hehe
In think you are forgetting Native American. The point is they are not trying to be offensive so no point in correcting them. It just makes it worse. For example: every Oreo is a cookie, but not every cookie is an Oreo. The point is you understand what they are saying and they are not trying to be offensive when they say it. What if that person has never seen another person with that skin other than some one of Mexican decent. They are slandering just speaking to what they know. This is actually common in other countries where the mix of people is not as diverse as say North America.
It was the placement that was very unfortunate-especially the black women under the "before" title to the white women under the "after" title. I had trouble even figuring out what they were trying to say. Besides appearing racist it is also just really, really bad advertising.
You need to read the article better. The outrage isn't over the full video, it's with stills adds drawn FROM the video. Dove used stills from the video as internet ads, one of the stills was from the section where a black woman becomes a white woman. They made the mistake of using the still from the video without the greater context of the full video ad, which inadvertently made it racist. But it cannot be denied that the "for NORMAL to dark skin" printed on the bottle is in fact racist, in that it says NORMAL instead of LIGHT...implying DIRECTLY that white/light skin is normal and dark/brown skin is OTHER/DIFFERENT. Using whiteness as the default standard is racist in and of itself...also you've not addressed that other problematic ad where the skin is dry and unattractive on the left, and smooth and attractive on the right (while organizing the women from left to right by darkness of their skin underneath the pictures of skin) is also racist...if even unintentionally so.
Great thoughts, Ntosh! I feel like we can find offense wherever we look these days... if we choose to. Even the apology was suspect here. We can't read the text because we are so busy reading between the lines.
Thanks. I didn't know that it was taken out of context...
I agree. People are going to complain. Maybe their delivery was wrong, but they are talking about skin colours! We are all different and we all have different skins colours. We have lighter skin to darker skin. Why are people so delicate these days.
Libtards see racism everywhere. All I see is an "inclusive" advertisement.
Yes ,Ntosh you have really missed the point that this is blatant racism...I'm a 69 yo white female and I see it.
Yeah, totally agree with you. Nowaday everything that has black people is considered freaking racist lol .... And that's exactly the reason making those real racist people hate different color people even more... Well the ad itself ain't any good but they're simply trying to express that the soap will make your skin brighter, what's wrong with that lol...
Also if this is racist then I guess Micheal Jackson is racist too....since his MV black and white also has similar scenes LOL
I don't see it as racist simply because the white lady transitions into a Latino woman? Clearly, people of all skin types can use dove? Or is that something we are going to ignore to make something out of nothing.
Exactly. That's why only the first sequence is shown. Because black -> white is racist and white -> Latina is no problem. White -> black is probably not a problem either. Sad that this culture of feeling offended by everything hardly ever tackles the roots of the issues we have with racism (positive AND negative)
And if they had put the white woman before the black woman- it would have been racist too because you'll get why is the white woman always first- can't win in this world- so tired of all this- we are human beings people!!!
To be honest, this was so badly taken out of context I had to read these comments to realise how badly out of context it was.
It's just a misplacement, I think. Sort of hit and miss thing.
Just like the other "racist" ad too, it's about the cracked, rough skin turning more even and soft, but because the black woman is closer to the "before" it's somehow racist. Took me a while to even realize what could possibly be racist about it.
Yeah, this is crazy, the only thing that could even be considered is the from normal to dark skin, but the rest is just showing that everyone can use Dove soap
beside, the black woman who starred in this already talk to the press, and she think that the ad was taken out of context, and the ad was to promote diversity, not racism. See this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/41586402/model-in-racist-dove-ad-speaks-out
THANK YOU!
This ad is showing a black woman turn into a white woman and a white woman turn into a Hispanic woman. When will the world see this as a sign of unity, that we can all use dove soap...
Knowing our society now, probably never.
UNITY...seriously..???? You've got to be kidding me.....look again...
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
but why wouldn't we ALL be able to use Dove soap though? I mean really... What does skin color have to do with what soap you use?
My best friend was black (she passed away) and she used to tell me that she couldn’t use just any soap because she had problems with “ashy” skin (not sure what she meant by that) and that some soaps would make it worse. So I get it when they say “for all skin types”.
Skin color or more like skin type vary a lot according to regional differences. If we're gonna agree that Afro hair, Asian hair and Caucasian hair types have differences, we better start admitting that skin types have too. Usually people from Africa, the Caribbean and South America have a drier skin (due to DNA evolution in those areas) while Asians have a more puffy skin, for example. That is not racist to admit that A product suits you better than B, because you come from a certain place, or your ancestors did.
Ivory is 99 44/100th pure, so pure it floats... But then so do my turds
The skin only allows certain amount of ultraviolet radiation to be passed through the skin, and that's because the body synthesizes vitamin D from sunlight, which helps it absorb calcium but excessive solar radiation can cause DNA damage to the skin. So, the higher the ultraviolet radiation in your area the darker the skin to protect itself from excess of radiation. How would soap affect your skin, skin color and health? Well, typical soap washes off some of the vitamin D that lays on the surface of the skin, dark skinned people living in weak sunlight areas already have vitamin D deficiency and losing what's left on their skin could cause low heart function, diabetes, alzheimer, depression and tiredness, or poor appetite, nausea and vomiting in case of vitamin D toxicity. I started having most of these symptoms when i used to stay indoor or away from sunlight most of the time during college before i knew this.
Bobbi, I'm sorry to hear about your friend, but skin type and skin colour are two different categories. It's whether your skin is dry, oily, mixed, sensitive etc. For example, I am caucasian with dry skin, of course I'll opt for products that claim higher moisture and a light, not too acidic formula, and I'll avoid products that contain alcohol. So, you see, I can't use just any soap either.