Monday, August 22, 2011


Nivea pulls ‘offensive’ ad



Some advertising genius really goofed. Where has he been all his life?
"Companies like to push the envelope with their ads. Sometimes the gamble works, sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes, like in the case of a new advertising campaign from Nivea, the whole thing turns into a fiasco.

Nivea, a company that specializes in skin-care products, recently released a print ad that it has since pulled. How to best describe the ad? It shows an African American man preparing to toss a decapitated head (his own?) with an afro-style haircut. The ad copy reads: "Re-Civilize Yourself." The underlying message seems to be that afros are not civilized.

Nivea has since taken down the ad and issued an apology via Facebook. "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."

Source


2 comments:

A. Levy said...

"This ad will never be used again."

Personally, i can say the exact same thing about my use of your products. Never again! Not because i think the ad is racist, but because this company is quite obviously caving-in to the powers of political correctness and is displaying gross weakness.

I'd be willing to bet that more guilt-ridden White liberals complained about this than did blacks. If blacks complained, they're just looking for some free stuff and perhaps a "settlement check", ($$) as in shake-down.

Anonymous said...

Or perhaps it is because it looks like a decapitated head being disposed of by a well-dressed serial killer. The ad is kinda weird and a bit creepy. Perhaps it looks better full sized, but I kinda doubt it...