Mindful Marketing
  • Home
  • About
    • Mission
    • Mindful Meter & Matrix
    • Leadership
  • Mindful Matters Blog
  • Engage Your Mind
    • Mindful Ads? Vote Your Mind!
  • Expand Your Mind
  • Contact

Racial Representation Gone Wrong

10/13/2017

27 Comments

 
Picture

by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

Comedian W.C. Fields famously advised, "never work with animals or children," the idea being, both are unpredictable and likely to steal the spotlight.  A somewhat similar ultimatum for advertisers might be “never make race the focus of ads.”  At least that’s what Unilever is probably thinking now.
 
The Dutch conglomerate responsible for brands such as Axe, Lipton, and Breyers, recently lit up social media with reactions to a Facebook ad for one of its most iconic brands: Dove.  The fact that the video featured three women of different races didn’t cause the controversy.  Many ads depict as much or more diversity.  The issue for many people was how the ad portrayed racial differences.
 
The video showed “a young black woman taking off her T-shirt and then morphing into a white woman, who in turn takes off her T-shirt, and turns into a woman appearing to be Asian.”  Although Dove said it was celebrating the beauty of different races, many viewers saw the ad differently:  they thought each morph implied some kind of racial improvement.
 
Unfortunately, such a repugnant interpretation is not unfounded, considering the long history of unfair racial characterizations in advertising, especially certain ads that have expressly illustrated what Dove’s critics claim.  For instance, a 1940s print ad by N.K. Fairbank Co. showed a white girl asking a black girl “Why doesn’t your mamma wash you with Fairy soap?”  More recently, a Chinese detergent commercial drew overwhelming accusations of racism for showing a young black man being pushed into a washing machine, only to emerge happily as a lighter-skin Chinese man.
 
Even worse for Dove is the fact that it made a similar mistake not that long ago.  In 2011, the brand created an ad for its VisibleCare product that featured three women—one black, one Latina, and one white—standing left to right in front of enlarged pictures of skin and two signs: “before” on the left and “after” on the right.  The ad was supposed to illustrate dry skin before using the product and smooth skin after, but the positions of the women relative to the signs made it seem like the ad was advocating ‘dark skin before, white skin after.’
 
That interpretation isn’t unreasonable given that several well-known skincare companies, such as Nivea, market skin-lightening creams.  Africa is a favorite target market for such products.  In West Africa, skin bleaching is a “multibillion-dollar industry,” as advertising and social pressure lead many to adopt the misguided notion that lighter skin is more beautiful.  The highest frequency of skin-lightening occurs in Nigeria where “77% of Nigerian women use the products on a regular basis,” despite significant health risks that come with the treatments.
 
Skin-lightening is not limited to Africa, however, and among the companies pushing such products around the world is, you guessed it, Unilever.  In markets that include India, the firm promotes its Fair & Lovely line, using ads that “depict dark-skinned women transforming into light-skinned women with a direct result of success in romance and careers.”
 
So, what should we make of Dove’s latest misstep via its t-shirt morphing ad?  Well, first it’s important to note that the company has offered what appears to be a sincere apology:
 
“Dove is committed to representing the beauty of diversity. In an image we posted this week, we missed the mark in thoughtfully representing women of color and we deeply regret the offense that it has caused.”  “[The ad] was intended to convey that Dove Body Wash is for every woman and be a celebration of diversity, but we got it wrong and, as a result, offended many people.”
 
It’s also worth noting that Lola Ogunyemi, the black actress in the ad, has voiced her support for the promotional piece, saying that she understands the backlash but believes the ad was taken out of context.  She adds she felt honored to be the face of dark-skinned beauty in the ad and doesn’t consider herself a victim.  However, she was unaware of the order that she and the other actresses would appear in the ad.
 
Ultimately, Unilever/Dove should have: learned from its past mistakes as well as those of other advertisers, recognized the ad’s implied endorsement of physically and socially harmful skin-lightening, and more thoroughly vetted the new ad before deciding to publish it.  Respectful representation of racial diversity in ads is great, but Dove’s imprudent approach is an unfortunate example of “Mindless Marketing.”


Picture
Picture
Subscribe to Mindful Matters blog.
Learn more about the Mindful Matrix and Mindful Meter.
Check out Mindful Marketing Ads
 and Vote your Mind!
27 Comments
Leslie Chan
10/14/2017 03:07:32 pm

It's interesting to see how vehemently companies these days are promoting themselves as supporting racial diversity and representation, yet end up failing spectacularly at times to do so. I definitely agree that Dove should have vetted the ad more thoroughly before publishing it. In fact, companies in general should thoroughly double check their ads when it comes to topics of racial representation. I also think it would of been smart of them to do a pretest with a select group of random customers to check what their responses would be. Yes, this method could potentially be more expensive and time consuming. However, better to spend more and avert a crisis then to damage your reputation and spend even more to fix it.

Reply
Anthony Lau
10/18/2017 05:00:33 pm

I think it's quite odd to see big companies like Dove send out such a debatable advertisement. Some would think that bigger companies had a better idea of what could upset the general public. Dove did not explicitly state the advertisement's message,but it was very easy to misinterpret. It seems that the marketing team at Dove didn't really think before they made and released this advertisement. Hopefully they had another intended purpose for the advertisement other than the racial one they got across.

Reply
Moriah Cunningham
10/18/2017 05:25:58 pm

It was baffling that Dove made the same mistake that they had made just years before. In order to reach one target audience, they offended many others. They could have avoided this misinterpretation by explicitly stating that their message for the advertisement. Instead of celebrating races and different skin types and colors, they offended many people

Reply
Savanah Hansen
10/18/2017 09:26:06 pm

It seems so common sense to learn from ones mistakes. It is very unfortunate that Unilever/Dove was not able to better organize their vetting process before allowing an advertisement to be sent out. However, I do think that their apology was sincere, and that the will probably be making some big changes in the future.

Reply
Devin Gooch
10/19/2017 02:26:34 pm

I have to agree that if Dove had indeed made the same mistake before then they should have been more aware of their later actions. Although, I think that society makes life hard on people especially the marketing industry as everyone seems to be looking for something to complain about today. I loved the original idea that Dove had to exemplify the beauty of multiple women but it is unfortunate that people can twist something beautiful to make it hateful.

Reply
Zach Martin
10/19/2017 04:16:23 pm

While the ad may have been taken out of context, it is Dove's job to anticipate how their consumers will be impacted by the way that they market their products. With a history of racial insensitivity, Dove should have been extremely cautious when using race as one of their key concepts for promoting their product. It seems crazy to me that a company of Unilever/Dove's size, could repeatedly miss the mark when it comes to what people find socially acceptable. Even if the ad was blown out of proportion, they should never have even given their consumers the opportunity to interpret their message incorrectly. They completely missed the mark on this one.

Reply
Megan Miller
10/19/2017 06:04:05 pm

It is interesting that Dove continues to release and produce these racist commercials when they know that there will be a negative reaction. The concept of using dark skin to represent the inferior and light skin to be the ideal is a disgusting way of promoting a product. I am surprised Lola Ogunyemi was so supportive of the add given the reputation Dove has built of creating racially charged ads. It would be interesting to read her reaction after seeing the commercial. Dove's apology for the ad seemed sincere and hopefully they use this as a learning experience and create ads that are more accepting of diversity rather than ads that create division.

Reply
Marisa Shon
10/20/2017 06:48:49 pm

I find it interesting how companies try to build up such a good reputation of being racially diverse, but can still fail to miss the mark entirely at time. I definitely agree that Dove should have thought of what this would convey to not just women, but people of all colors before publishing the ad for the public eye. They could have avoided this controversy by taking smaller samples of the public to get their reaction, especially since these times, one bad ad can really kill the company. This may have taken some time, but I definitely think it would have been worth their efforts.

Reply
Victoria Perez
10/20/2017 11:32:20 pm

Conversations surrounding race and gender are at an all time high. With this in mind, I hope that Dove and others companies will commit to being more mindful of the ads they publish. Knowing that this isn’t the first time a Dove commercial comes under fire for racially ignorant ads, I am skeptical to believe they are sincere in their desire to celebrate women of color. I am pleased to see that Dove has issued a statement apologizing for missing the mark. Whether or not the statement is sincere is debatable, but it is important to watch what they will publish in the future. Should Dove continue to pursue that marketing venture, I hope future ads will do better at actually celebrating women of color.

Reply
Grant Ganther
10/22/2017 05:49:59 pm

I think Dove is one of the best companies that shows the diversity of women in different races. What they did in this ad I believe was taken way out of context, not realizing what they had done. Dove has been an inspiration to many women to show that everyone is beautiful in their own skin no matter what color it is or what body figure people have. In this ad Doves goal was to do just that but they missed the mark slightly. Because now in 2017 everyone gets offended my the littlest of thing, Dove made a simple mistake that everyone is taking way out of proportion. Dove was very quick to retract the ad as well as issue a statement for what has happened. This is a testament as to who they are a company and that they did not have the intentions to come off as meaning to discriminate against another race. With ads like this companies need to look at the ads in extra detail so there are no more mishaps like this again.

Reply
Adrianna Barragan
10/22/2017 07:52:19 pm

Given that Dove has made a similar mistake in making race the focus just a few years ago, it makes clear sense why their approach is an example of "mindless marketing." Though their intentions may have been taken out of context, it is their task to strategically convey those initial intentions. Unfortunately, it is not enough for actions to be sincere when all the public can see is the finished result. But I must say, I do appreciate their apology and Lola Ogunyemi's sincere support for Dove. I definitely think her voice helped strengthen Dove's apology. I do think it is interesting how making race the focus of an ad tends to go wrong. I think it might be because it seems unnatural and forced. This is something worth thinking through and this post most definitely hit on something marketers ought to work on.

Reply
Christian Rim
10/22/2017 11:05:24 pm

Conversations and about race and gender happens all the time. Particularly in this article, Dove portrayed a racist ad about three different women of a different race. Africa is one of the popular target markets when it comes to marketing in advertisements. In the ad with three different women, they made the African-American women transform into a Caucasian and then to an Asian. One of the ads that have a racist slur was from the company in India promoting its Fair and Lovely line that depicts dark-skinned women transforming into a light-skinned women with a direct result of success in romance and careers.

Reply
Alden Rasilim
10/22/2017 11:25:15 pm

In my opinion, what Dove did didn't have the intention of offending other target audiences, but as a big company, they should be able to anticipate how the public will react to their advertisement. Dove needs to realize that they need to put a lot of thought into their advertisements, and not only use one perspective. Other people will look at ads differently, so they need to be able to take into account other perspectives as well.

Reply
Claudia Lopez
10/23/2017 03:48:14 am

I'm honestly kind of surprised by Dove's mistake. The lack of sensitivity seems to be from a hasty review by their marketing team. And while they did attempt to represent several races, the action of removing one skin to another implies that they believe they are "improving" with each transformation. Dove should really be more careful with this kind of thing, considering the history of racism within the beauty industry.

Reply
Kyle Lawrence
10/23/2017 01:55:27 pm

I completely agree with you in that this was a clear example of mindless marketing. Dove obviously made a mistake in that this is so easily seen as a racial injustice ad. Even if it wasn't meant to be taken this way, in marketing you need to be better aware of the culture you're in and see how your marketing could be taken by anyone, not just the ones producing the ad. Dove should have had focus groups with a range of races and cultures and could have better avoided this huge miscommunication in their ad.

Reply
Kelly Thomas
10/23/2017 09:53:11 pm

I couldn't agree more with the message presented in this post. In the marketing/advertising world, the importance of understanding bias and the other controversial/offensive themes in our generation is detrimental to the piece, especially if it is being shared with the world. In Doves case, they should have been more aware of what the other messages could have been by having more people view it before it was given the green light. Regardless of the fact that Dove didn't mean for the offensive message to be conveyed, it was their responsibility, their product and their choice to let it out to the public. From this posting we can understand the importance of having a wide spectrum of possibilities before sharing with the world. Diversity is something that we desire, but in doing so we must be cautious of the steps taken in order to doge such crisis' similar to what Dove went through.

Reply
Kristyanne Crosby
10/23/2017 09:57:43 pm

I thought this article was mindless as well. It did not uphold societal values. There was no thought behind it, and the disrespectful ad could have easily been avoided. It was especially sad because something so similar had happened just a few years before. I think the intention behind the ad was to uphold societal values by celebrating diversity, but it ultimately missed the mark. The ad didn’t really create stockholder value either as it didn’t really have a clear message about the product. I think that Dove should be more conscientious about potential pitfalls when it comes to approaching diversity discussions.

Reply
Eric Tjokrorahardjo
10/23/2017 10:59:01 pm

I always think that bigger companies have more understanding of a good ideas of advertisement is like. But as we can see it here, they are a big company but yet they failed to advertise themselves here. I hope they will learn from the mistake, can be more careful and be more considerate before releasing the actual commercials to the public

Reply
Hanzel Chow
10/24/2017 12:15:28 am

I feel like this company could have done a better job in trying to present their message of beauty in diversity. Especially because they have had other backlashes that were similar to this one in their past, that would make you think that they would learn and be more careful. Companies must always be aware of what they are doing and not just from their perspective but from the perspective of people outside of the company. This way they can get a formal unbiased opinion that would give them insight into how some people may actually feel. If you are going to make an ad on a subject that can be considered delicate, then you must also make that ad with delicacy in mind. Even though Dove never meant for this advertisement to be taken out of context, with the world we live in today, it should be expected for things that deal with ethnicity to be critically judged and that can either be good or bad, but for that reason they should have taken more careful steps in making this ad.

Reply
haiyan cui link
10/24/2017 12:25:27 am

It is a very good thing that advertising is in racial diversity. But it should take more cautious thought at the same time. Description of the racial differences is a very sensitive topic. The company does not want to make the same mistake like Dave made the wrong express to their consumers. However, Dove realized and had a more thorough review of the decision before publishing the new ad. Respecting the diversity of races in advertising is a great thing.

Reply
Cassidy Costello
10/24/2017 01:04:39 am

I saw this commercial online recently and was very surprised that Dove had released such an obviously inappropriate ad. Although celebrating race and differences is important, Dove definitely missed the aim on this one. Although Dove may have had pure intentions and we may just be interpreting this incorrectly, it is important to be ultra cautious in marketing and advertising. Dove has always been well-known and celebrated because of their campaigns showcasing unique women, and I think that is why this advertisement was as shocking as it was.

Reply
Kyu Lee
10/24/2017 01:13:01 am

I understand how this ad was debatable, but I don't agree with the viewers who believed that the ad had to do something with racial improvement. I feel like the people that felt the ad had subliminal message to racial differences are the ones that's viewing the ad in wrong way. What they are saying is that if the sequence of the actresses were different, then they would not have problem. I don't see the problem with Dove's ad promoting diversity. I think we as a society need to stop trying to come up with subliminal messages that has nothing to do with the messages.

Reply
Kenneth Goltara
10/24/2017 02:11:03 am

Personally, I agree that Dove missed the mark with this advertisement. However, I do believe their apology. They weren’t intentionally trying to be racist and portray one race over another. It seems from their apology and the advertisement that they were trying to show that their products are for women of all races, but the way they carried that out seemed to portray the wrong message than what they intended to portray.

Reply
Raquelle Gonzalez
12/6/2017 06:29:08 pm

While I do agree with those that say that this advertisement missed the mark, I don't think that Dove had ill-intentions with producing this ad. I don't think there was any association with the concept of skin-lightening, as it also portrayed other races "transforming" into each other. However, I do respect Dove for offering an apology to those that it did offend. Dove is part of such a larger conglomerate, and one would think that with such an experienced advertising and marketing team, they would have been more cognizant to know what would come off as offensive.

Reply
Courtney Hampton
12/6/2017 09:30:57 pm

I feel that Dove simply failed to fully think through this ad and their mistake might have been caught beforehand if they tested it on a small sample of people. I believe that Dove had no desire to offend anyone and that they did not see the negative implications of the ad. They intended to create a meaningful commercial, but their intentions did not show through to the consumers. Dove will never recover completely from the negative response they received. No matter their actual intentions, people will link Dove with a racist ad. This shows how important it is to thoroughly assess the response from and implications of advertising.

Reply
Nathalie W.
2/2/2018 02:16:57 am

When seeing this advertisement for the first time, I saw no offense in the ad. However, this ad reflects a previous ad campaign that Dove received negative feedback on. Where the darker woman was placed in front of the "before" unhealthy skin. And the lighter woman was placed in front of the "after" healthy skin. If anything Dove should have taken note from the previous ad campaign and make changes. Dove's intention may have been to be portrayed as a diverse brand, but how that was communicated may not have been carefully thought out.

Reply
Vianey Jimenez
2/2/2018 06:54:27 pm

When this controversy first came out, I was in shock. I learned about racism in advertisements at a young age, but I thought society had moved forward from using race to sell products/ services to a certain consumer. Although maybe Dove was not intending to make racially offensive, I think they should have been more considerate of how society would react. We don't know what goes on behind those meetings where ads are discussed, therefore, we don't know what the intentions are for ads. Diversity matters, but just adding people of color does not make it perfectly diverse and culturally aware.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Subscribe to receive this blog by email

    Editor

    David Hagenbuch,
    founder of
    Mindful Marketing    & author of Honorable Influence

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    Categories

    All
    + Decency
    + Fairness
    Honesty7883a9b09e
    * Mindful
    Mindless33703c5669
    > Place
    Price5d70aa2269
    > Product
    Promotion37eb4ea826
    Respect170bbeec51
    Simple Minded
    Single Minded2c3169a786
    + Stewardship

    RSS Feed

    Share this blog:

    Subscribe to
    Mindful Matters
    blog by email


    Illuminating
    ​Marketing Ethics ​

    Encouraging
    ​Ethical Marketing  ​


    Copyright 2020
    David Hagenbuch

Proudly powered by Weebly