Nivea pulls ‘offensive’ ad | Welcome to Linda Ikeji's Blog

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Saturday 20 August 2011

Nivea pulls ‘offensive’ ad

Skin-care company, Nivea, recently released a print ad that caused such an outrage in the African American community. The ad shows an African American man preparing to toss a decapitated head with an afro-style haircut. The ad copy reads: "Re-Civilize Yourself." So, they are basically saying that afros aren't civilized?

Nivea has since taken down the ad and issued an apology via Facebook, where they got most of the backlash. Their statement reads:
"Thank you for caring enough to give us your feedback about the recent 'Re-civilized' Nivea for Men ad. This ad was inappropriate and offensive. It was never our intention to offend anyone, and for this we are deeply sorry. This ad will never be used again. Diversity and equal opportunity are crucial values of our company."

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Quite apphauling! I'm at a loss of words!

1976AD.com said...

PCness gone awry. It's a darn ad people, lighten up.

Anonymous said...

Diversity is.......yeah right! after the fact!

Igwe Osita One said...

Are they Mad? Are they supposed to be told by their "dear" customers that the ad is offensive? They should as a matter of urgency FIRE all those in the brand management team......

Anonymous said...

Definitely one of the most discriminating ad's of all times! Shame on u guys for this...and i dnt buy that fake appology coz the deed has been done already!

Anonymous said...

I was offended trust me but I wonder why? If it was a white man holding a white head with an old time hairstyle, why would I find that funny instead. It's kind of the same thing.

Alicia says... said...

Yeah, i heard about this shit three days ago and was upset. they knew what they were doing. to think they thought it was ok to even put on TV and in other ads to begin with, like WTF?!
they knew what they were doing, period. i will never buy another nivea product, not like I have in years anyway. lol

Ade_Cool said...

Nothing like race baiting to bring attention to a flagging product..seems to have worked..in marketing/advertising there's nothing like bad publicity...

Anonymous said...

So afros are uncivilised? @ anonymous aug 20 3:57pm, its not the same thing as if twas a white dude holding a head with 'an old time hairstyle' - because afros aren't just 'old time hairstyles', they are the natural state of our hair. its not just a style, its the way our hair grows (thick, curly, upwards and onwards lol)therefore, tossing a head in this natural state could obviously offend some people. and nivea knew it. bastards. but i'm not gonna give up my nivea visage, works too well ha ha ha

Anonymous said...

@ anon aug 20th 3:57pm, its not the same thing as if a white dude was holding a head with an 'old time hairstyle' - its different because afros are our hair in its natural state; its not just a style, that's how it grows (thick, curly, upwards & onwards lol) so some people would find it offensive for an ad to imply that a certain race's hair, in its natural state, is uncivilised. and nivea knew it. bastards. won't make me give up my nivea visage though, the product works quite well ha ha

Galore said...

Them go just do adverts,,,,without usin their "Tick" brainThem go just do adverts,,,,without usin their "Tick" brain

Nollywood Forever said...

An afro is not the same as an "old style" and afro is the way our hair grows pout of our head. It is offensive to say in order to live in western society we must opress one of our crucial markings of race, our hair.

this is nothing new. this has been going on for decades. Why do you think most black women can't even remember what their natural hair looks like, and most black men shave their heads down to barely nothing. We have let them win in annihilating part of what makes us BLACK!

Anonymous said...

They are doing these things on purpose. First it was Naomi Campbell and the chocolate. Now it is Black men. So we should onot have afro because they wanna sell nivea.

It isnt a mistake they know what they are dooing

Anonymous said...

I'm anon 3:57. Thanks for explaining that, anon 9:22.

Anonymous said...

what were they expecting to achieve with such ad???

Nivea said...

Diversity is.......yeah right! after the fact!

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