Nivea Runs Deoderant Ad With Slogan "White Is Purity;" Nivea No Longer Running Ad
NY Times- The skin care brand Nivea set off a controversy this week with an ad featuring the phrase “White is purity,” again finding itself accused of racial insensitivity over a campaign that seemed to be embraced by white supremacists.
Beiersdorf, the German company that owns Nivea and other brands like La Prairie, has since deleted the ad, which appeared with “Keep it clean, keep bright. Don’t let anything ruin it, #Invisible,” as part of its post.
The advertisement, which was on Nivea’s Middle East Facebook page, was being discussed on 4Chan with racist comments on Monday. The ad was posted on Twitter next to a picture of Pepe the Frog, a cartoon tied to anti-Semitism and racism that has become a mascot for the alt-right. The user wrote that “Nivea has chosen our side.”
God I love it. Alt-right sees a deoderant ad and says, “they’ve chosen our side.” Can you imagine being the Nivea executive who greenlit this ad, and seeing a neo-Nazi welcoming your company to their cause? How much time would elapse between the shit leaving your butt and filling your socks?
But this isn’t the first time Nivea has run into trouble with suggestively racist advertising, either. If you think that White Is Purity shit was bad, wait until you see this thing they ran in 2011:
Hoooooly smokes. Black guy holding a decapitated black mannequin’s head by the afro, hurling it across a parking lot like a discus with the slogan “re-civilize yourself.” Goodnight and good luck. That is LIGHTSPEED racist compared to that White Purity child’s play. Me right now:
Here’s what I don’t understand: these big companies enlist advertising firms that have been working on marketing campaigns for years. They have teams that specialize in coming up with catchy, non-racist ad slogans. And yet, time and time again, we see this kind of thing happen. How?! You know this ad campaign was pitched in a boardroom with at least 20 people. There were probably 10 other proposals too–10 presentations with graphics, powerpoints, and other catchy slogans–all passed over in favor of “White Is Purity.” How could so many people have missed it? Not one person said, “not to be a dick, but uh… this is racist.” It’s 2017, Nivea. Everything is racist/sexist/homophobic/offensive. You guys need to head for the opposite endzone, bigtime.
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Luckily, China…
Last year, a Chinese laundry detergent upset people with a campaign that showed an Asian woman shoving a detergent pod into the mouth of a black worker and pushing him into a washing machine. The man emerges as a pale Asian man.
But in China, where racial stereotypes in popular culture are rampant, the commercial did not seem to provoke a great deal of reaction.
Winner winner racist dinner. Ya just.. don’t… get it, do ya China? Racial sensitivity is nonexistent in China which, from a comedian’s standpoint, is awesome. I’m heading over in May to work with the Donton and you can believe I’ll be swinging for the fences.
Westerners who visit China are often troubled by the country’s attitudes toward race, which are frequently manifested in a preoccupation with pale skin.
“Their obsession with white skin is the most evident,” she said. “My first day in China, my school assistant ran from shaded spot to shaded spot when we walked to lunch together because she told me she didn’t want to ‘turn black.’ ”
Real question: Am I a God in China? Am I about to be elected Chairman Fran of the People’s Republic? Never would have thought my ginger complexion would lead to private jets and unlimited happy endings from the moment I touch down in Shanghai. Can’t. Fucking. Wait.