(ThyBlackMan.com) The assumption is that a lot of those upset about the racially offensive Dove ad don’t use Dove anyway. Some of our own people have taken the position that black folks just want something to “fuss and complain” about. Then there are others that don’t feel its offensive because a black woman is not the only race depicted. Did this group consider that different groups of people handle offense differently?
There are some Americans of Asian descent that are also offended, and should they be disregarded because they may not the group you see openly offended? I understand that many of us are beyond tired. Being black in America has ALWAYS been a stressful existence, but right now it feels like are overwhelmingly dealing with overt racial discussions. With that being acknowledge, as exhausted as we are it won’t solve anything to give passes at any given time.
When the smoke rose about the Dove ad, whereby a black woman takes a shirt off and is a white woman, several black people took to social media sharing the clip of the ad. Many decided it was thoroughly offensive, and it reminded them of the Japanese commercial where a black man enters the washing machine and comes out clean…white. some referenced a Dove lotion ad where by you have three women in a towel and they are standing darkest to white. The offended mad it be clear they would no longer by dove soap. Others refuse to do such stating Dove was best for their skin, or they didn’t find the ad offensive enough, if at all, to warrant action. Furthermore, Dove did release an apology and for some that was admittance and enough to calm their ire.
I can only speak for myself. Dove is a brand I have uses for well over 20yrs. That is the brand, prior to this incident, that I’ve used for my son’s sensitive skin. However, I won’t be purchasing Dove anymore. I felt that lotion ad was border lining offense because of the color digression. The bottom line is there are deep race issues in this country, and just because it seems to be everywhere doesn’t mean I will ignore Dove. It’s so much easier, in this instance, to brand this situation as making too much of an ad that was not ill intended. However, I can only ask what was their marketing department thinking? Did they not realize this was ad was going to offend many of its customers? I admit there is a part of me that feels the marketing oversight was either intentional, or the result of a lack of diversity in their department.
This is not hard to understand. The battle of race and color in this country is deep, and a sensitive area. Black people have been made to feel their skin was dirty, and ugly…so to have that sister take the shirt off to be a white woman was definitely in poor taste. Honestly, it was offensive to minorities as a whole. By the way I must say that if I was offered to be in an ad that depicted such I would have to decline for the sake of my own dignity. No, I would not have been the black girl in the racially offensive ad.
I understand the argument of its her job…but again my dignity as a black woman would not have allowed it. Saying you won’t use your money, your buying power, to support a brand that was racially offensive is not complaining nor fussing. Its saying I won’t be offended while giving you my money. White people do it all the time, and they are seen as exercising their right to spend their money where they feel valued. Well, blacks in America have the same right, and it’s time we exercise it…this isn’t complicated at all.
Staff Writer; Christian Starr
May connect with this sister over at Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/christian.pierre.9809 and also Twitter; http://twitter.com/MrzZeta.
