The Dove ad that did not fly
Place your brand in the hands of the tone deaf at your own peril
The ad was simple enough. It showed a black woman removing her brown top to reveal a white woman in a pale top. She then removed her top to reveal an Asian woman ... you get the picture. The problem, though, was that the brand was Dove, maker of soap. The narrative of soap is that it makes you cleaner, so it wasn’t long before social media joined the dots. The message that Dove had inadvertently sent out was condemned and a chorus demanding a boycott began to gather steam. It wasn’t long before Dove was moved to tweet: “An image we recently posted on Facebook missed the mark in representing women of colour thoughtfully. We deeply regret the offence it caused.” And Dove issued a statement: “The short video was intended to convey that Dove body wash is for every woman and be a celebration of diversity, but we got it wrong.” Dove’s parent company, Unilever, also apologised. It is highly unlikely that Dove deliberately chose to produce a racist ad — no major brand would. But that is not...
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