Dove Apologizes for Ad Many Are Calling Racist

It appeared to show a black woman turning into a white woman
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 8, 2017 5:04 PM CDT
Updated Oct 9, 2017 12:11 AM CDT

Dove is once again being called out for one of its ads. This time, the ad in question showed a black woman pulling off her brown shirt to reveal a white woman in a pale shirt, who then pulled off her shirt to reveal a non-Caucasian, but still light-skinned, woman wearing a slightly darker shirt. The images went viral after makeup artist Naomi Blake posted them to Facebook on Friday, Jezebel reports. Many called the image of a black woman appearing to turn into a white woman racist, pointing out that soap companies used to advertise their products with images of black people using soap to clean themselves and reveal white skin.

On Saturday, Dove responded with an apologetic statement posted to social media: "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 feedback that has been shared is important to us and we’ll use it to guide us in the future." In a further statement to the Guardian, the company described its original post, which has since been deleted, as a "three-second video clip." As NPR notes, this isn't the first time a Dove ad has been called racist; in 2011, a body wash ad appeared to depict a darker-skinned woman as "before" and a lighter-skinned woman as "after," though the company later said all the women in the ad were meant to "demonstrate the 'after' product benefit." (More Dove stories.)

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