In a White Supremacist Donald Trump America, placing the words “white” and “purity” together might win you an election; however, it will anger consumers.
Somehow NIVEA, decided that running an ad marketing it’s invisible deodorant with the slogan, “White Is Purity,” geo-targeted to fans and followers in the Middle East (according to BBC), was a brilliant idea.
The post continues it’s trend of racial insensitivity by stating, “Keep it clean, keep bright. Don’t let anything ruin it, #Invisible.” Yes, seriously.
https://twitter.com/CWDaven/status/848902341713686529
Not surprisingly, this led to a lot of people getting angry and calling NIVEA out on the absurdity of the article, thus swaying the brand to remove the ad from Facebook.
Nevertheless, NIVEA seems to have some weird advertising slogans, that could be misread, like the caption to the ad they posted on March 17th: “Believe in #Invisible for Black and White from NIVEA. Black stays black. White Stays White.” This can feel divisive, in an already racially tense society.
We reached out to Beiersdorf, the parent company to NIVEA, and they responded with the following,
“Over the weekend an image and caption was posted to the NIVEA Middle East Facebook page mean to promote “Invisible for Black & White,” a stain-free antiperspirant for use with black and/or white clothing. That image was inappropriate and not reflective of our values as a company. We deeply apologize for that and have removed the post.
Diversity and inclusivity are crucial values of NIVEA. We take pride in creating products that promote beauty in all forms. Discrimination of any kind is simply not acceptable to us as a company, as employees, or as individuals.”
Hello Beautiful followed up with a request for how many people in upper management are people of color (because how did this even get signed off on?!) and further action to ensure that this does not happen again (they had a similar incident happen in 2011). We are awaiting a response that NIVEA says they will try to provide and will update accordingly.
Story developing.
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