Normally I can see what they were going for but I am completely lost this time.
I don’t get it.
Dove was dinged for a previous ad where a black, a brown and a white woman stood in front of big “Before” and “After” pictures, where the before was dry skin and the after was not-dry skin. I could understand the error there: people were supposed to see these three women smiling and wrapped in towels, and think they had all gone from dry “before” skin to moisturized “after” skin by showering with Dove. Unfortunately, and I’m sure unintentionally, it looked like “Before” meant the black woman and “After” meant the white woman. Fail, but at least you could figure out what you were supposed to think.
But here, what are we supposed to think?
I can see what they were going for, but it seems like a definite fail, unfortunately.
I was debating whether changing the racial order would help…maybe Asian/white/black would have been better, or having more women in a wider range of apparent ethnicities/races flipping more rapidly, mixing it up more. As it is, people are likely to be offended by the first switch before they even get to the second.
What were they going for, Consolation? I’m dim and literal-minded, and I just don’t get it.
Yeah I’m lost, too. I normally can see it but I’m really confused this time.
There was a similar ad in China last year that caused a commotion. Racial bias is not seen as an issue in some cultures, but Unilever should have know better.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/28/china-racist-detergent-advert-outrage
I mean this sincerely. I don’t think Dove is secretly or implicitly racist. I think they were going for something and it sailed right over my head.
When I saw the ad I interpreted it as marketing the product to women with all skin tones. I think the name implies otherwise so they were trying to counteract that with this ad.
It reminds me of the MIchael Jackson video, Black or White, where an individual changes genders and races in succession.
I have no idea what anything means these days if I ever did.
Once is a mistake, twice is a pattern. This is what happens when there is no diversity within the ranks of decision makers.
Their moisturizer says “for normal to dark skin”. Didn’t realize dark skin isn’t normal.
Don’t these people think???
There was also “fair to normal.”
But seriously, who thought it was a good idea to use “normal” as a color?
As party said, this is what happens when everyone making decisions is older, white, and clueless.
Okay, add ‘normal’ to the list of words which can now get you in trouble. Glad I got the memo first thing thing in the morning.
@dietz199 In this case I think “normal” is a word that SHOULD get you in trouble. The implication that there is some kind of “normal” skin tone and everyone else is abnormal is patently ridiculous. If they want to indicate a range of skin tones, how about MEDIUM?
PC culture: when you can no longer call people “abnormal” without repercussions. Censorship, I say!!
“Normal” in Hawaii or Vermont? NBA or NHL game?
Of course, what is seen as “medium” may be different in different places as well.
I didn’t know moisturizers even varied in their formulation based on skin tone. I thought it was oily vs dry. So how is skin tone even relevant?
I have a birthmark on half of my face so do I have to use two different lotions. One for fair and one for dark? =))
And then what do I do with the white spots caused by my meds? :-??
When I first saw this, I thought it was an ad for a Dove bar, with the black woman representing the chocolate shell, and the white woman representing the vanilla interior.
I can’t imagine how this ad made it out into the world.
@ucbalumnus , obviously, most women are aware of the broad human variation of skin tone even if they see mostly one segment of it where they live.
This particular ad is apparently for a body wash, and they were just trying to convey that it was for all women and that female beauty comes in many versions. A nice sentiment, poorly carried out.
If they were talking about moisturizers, tinted moisturizers are like a very light foundation and come in many shades.