Dove apologizes and takes down ad deemed racist

the brand dove decided to formally apologize after being criticized by the racist content of a liquid soap campaign, launched on Facebook. The video, which has since been deleted, showed a black woman taking off a brown T-shirt and “transforming” into a white woman in a beige T-shirt. After that, the white woman would also remove her shirt and become a woman with slightly dark skin (Latin, perhaps), whose shirt again matched her skin tone.

Aimed at the North American public, the advertisement was soon criticized on social networks. the makeup artist NayThe Mua was one of the first people to report the ad:

Faced with negative repercussions, Dove decided to apologize and took the video off the air.

“An image recently posted to Facebook failed to intelligently represent black women. We deeply regret the offense this has caused.”

This isn’t the first time Dove has been accused of racism because of its advertising. In another liquid soap campaign, two background images showed the skin before (dry) and after (hydrated) use of the product. In front of the “before” is a black woman and, in front of the after, there is a white woman – with another possibly Latino one between them. Below the image, the sentence reads: “Visibly more beautiful skin through the most unexpected place of all – your shower”.

The piece was criticized for the order in which the women meet, which would imply that white skin is “visibly more beautiful” than black.