In early October 2017, Dove posted an ad that was a three second GIF promoting Dove’s body wash. It shows a black woman taking off a dark shirt and under that is a white woman in a white shirt. That woman then pulls off her shirt to reveal another woman in an olive-tone shirt. Social media soon lit up with criticism and hate toward the new ad. One tweet said, “the message conveyed to me was that the Black Woman is dirty and once you use Dove soap you’ll be clean and White”. The Ad continued to spark controversy and Dove at once released an apologize defending that it was not their intention and so forth. However, what I found the most, in a way, heartwarming, was the response of the Nigerian Model who was in the commercial herself. While critics have slammed the campaign declaring it promotes harmful and racist ideas; that lighter skin tones are the ideal or “face” of beauty. Lola Ogunyemi, the Nigerian model fights back.
“Having an opportunity to represent my dark-skinned sisters in a global beauty brand felt like the perfect way for me to remind the world that we are here, we are beautiful, and more importantly, we are valued.”[1]
Lola said that as a dark-skinned woman she is aware that society has historically valued light skin and there have been negative impacts to this day on young women. But this ad to her had nothing to do with skin tone, it had everything to do with what Dove, is constantly trying to promote which is; for women to feel confident and beautiful[2]. Lola understands how people could misinterpret the ad. But could not that also be an issue. People are so quick to judge, literally everything, that they totally miss the real message. Lola even admitted she wished Dove explained their creative vision for this commercial when they were apologizing.
There comes a point when everyone must start trusting each other. Everyone must listen to each other and everyone must feel they can speak freely. While I am not saying that those who caused an uproar about this commercial are wrong. But, I do believe in everything that Dove[3]stands for. And so, no matter what it is, who is in it, who is doing what, I believe it is important to take a step back and try to see what is in front of you in every different angle you can. “All of the women in the shoot understood the concept and overarching objective – to use our differences to highlight the fact that all skin deserves gentleness”.
So, I lowkey wish Dove had thought through that advertisement before making it into a commercial, because I think a lot of people today would not see that as wrong, but would see where it would cause controversy to some people. I think the message behind Dove's commercial was beautiful and something that is still vitally important regardless of the criticism. Hearing Lola speak out in response to the critique of the commercial was huge, in that it pointed to the deeper root of the message: that all women and all skin types deserve the love and care that Dove seeks to provide. All women are valued.
ReplyDeleteI think problems like this show how big of an issue race is in the world still. People are still highly sensitive to any acts that portray one race as superior to another, and this will not stop until there is no question of racial equality in America.
I agree with what Allie is saying. I think that if I saw that commercial or gif, I might not be offended, however I live in America where my skin tone is the standard of beauty. I think that the controversy over this commercial shows just how deep the hurt over racial systematic oppression runs in our country and how despite legislative changes, racism and its effects are still ever present. I think that it is important that the model from the ad released a message about her participation in the commercial and the true intent of Dove and their vision for the ad to clear up confusion.
ReplyDeleteI see where you are coming from Avery, and I do think it's wonderful Dove wants to promote confidence in all women and demonstrate that women are valued. However, when you look at the timeline of the human race, segregation only recently ended after hundreds of years of slavery and segregation; many generations of African Americans are still struggling to recover economically, socially, and psychologically. I think you have to be careful when displaying an ad like this as the wounds of America's oppression still run deep. I believe Dove will learn from this experience and continue promote women to be confident and valued.
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