You Racist, Or Naw? -Dove Ad Campaign FAIL

     Mid-October, Dove released a new ad to of course sell their soap. There isn't much material in soap advertising I suspect, as they seem to revert to old tactics to keep the creative department fresh. I don't understand why Dove didn't learn from their last mistake (the transition from black to white women, and dirty to clean) and why they decided the 'woke' year of 2017 was a good time to pull a similar stunt. In the ad, a black woman takes off a skin color shirt and then turns into a white woman, who the turns into another woman (whom people claim is Filipino) They claim their purpose was to be inclusive and equal, to represent all women. They could have easily changed it around and put the white woman first who could take her skin off and change, or just all together not include the idea of changing someones skin.

     I suspect they attempted to narrow cast the millennial market, as these new adults are hip and 'woke,' and want equality in this new nation. Sadly though Dove really missed the mark. They had a dart board of outcomes, and their dart landed in the trash can below the board. The stereotype of dirty= person of color from hundreds of years ago seems like an odd thing to 'accidentally' slip into an advert, but is it just further proof that we are still racist? There's the out-there racism of far- right groups and police profiling, but is that same idea subliminally seeping into our media, and media as seemingly innocent as a soap commercial. I would like to consider myself aware of offensive material, and thus can spot that this commercial is racist, but others may not. Those raised in families that never commented on something being wrong with media like this Dove commercial may not see the offensiveness, and continue producing similar content because they are ignorant to the effect words and ideas can have on people different from them. Educating the masses on what is socially acceptable and unacceptable is important so that we can call out things like this commercial and try and prevent further mishaps.

     We all make mistakes, but something as touchy as this should have been avoided from the get-go. I am nauseated by the fact someone approved of this without seeing what's wrong, and broadcasted it. Especially after already running into trouble, you'd think that Dove would have been a lot more sensitive. People will argue that there is nothing wrong with a mistake that wasn't intended to offend anyone, but they cannot relate to the people that this kind of stuff effects, and cannot comprehend how filled our media is with poisonous hate, subliminal or not. Even I, a woke god, will never be able to relate to those who see so many messages aimed at marginalizing them and their identity.

CNBC article on the issue HERE