Dove Ad Controversy

The Situation

      Dove, a personal care and toiletries brand, published an advertisement that was received as being very controversial and racist by people on social media. The main criticisms are towards the part of the ad where an African American woman removes her brown shirt, revealing a caucasian woman wearing a white shirt. Dove's response was that the ad was supposed to mean that the soap is good for all types of skin. Their differences were supposed to highlight the fact that all skin deserves gentleness.

The controversial Dove ad Source

      Despite the media depicting the first model, Lola Ogunyemi, as a victim of this situation, the model defended the advertisement in an interview with The Guardian. She said that she did not feel victimized at all while filming the ad, instead she said,"Having the opportunity to represent my dark-skinned sisters in a global beauty brand felt like the perfect way for me to remind the world that we are here, we are beautiful, and more importantly, we are valued." The model has been very clear in expressing that she does not feel victimized.

My Thoughts

      I think that Dove should have been more careful with this advertisement. I understand their thought process and vision behind the ad, however the general public could very easily find problems with it. It also doesn't help that screenshots of only the first transition of women was shown in most sources. Context is important and I believe that if more parts of the ad had been shared the backlash would have been reduced. The full television ad featured 7 women of varying skin types. The backlash probably still would have existed, just not at the level it had been. 

      Despite this, I do agree that the advertisement could be seen as offensive to some people. I myself do not think it is very offensive after learning more about the situation but Dove still should have been more careful. As Lola Ogunyemi said,"There is definitely something to be said here about how advertisers need to look beyond the surface and consider the impact their images may have". If Dove had looked past their creative vision and thought about their ad from the audiences point of view, I'm sure they would have changed the ad a bit.

A Dove ad from 2011 Source

      The fact that something like this happened has with Dove before doesn't help. In 2011, they published another controversial ad. That situation could have harmed any trust the audience had towards Dove, leading the backlash to be worse the second time around.