Dove Ad Shows A Black Woman Turning White After Using A Product. The Internet Is Outraged.

Ever heard “Once a mistake. Twice, a habit”?

When the whole world is going on and on about body positivity and being comfortable in your own skin, and a brand goes ahead and does something ridiculously foolish, it just makes you go…

On Friday, Dove, the brand that screams hoarse about ‘Real women. Real beauty,’ shared a GIF on their Facebook page with major racist undertones.

The three-second GIF showed a black woman wearing a dark brown t-shirt, who then takes it off to reveal a white woman wearing a lighter, beige t-shirt.

Yeah… umm… okay.

A beauty entrepreneur, 29-year-old Naomi Blake, reached out to Dove on their Facebook page and expressed concerns about the offensive nature of the ad, as reported by CNNMoney.

“How can you see a body wash ad like this and not realize? It rubbed me and many people the wrong way. What are you telling the little black girls who watch this?”

Initially, she received a default automated response, but once she took to Facebook and Twitter with the screenshots of the ad, there was enough noise to make Dove realise their mistake. The ad was taken down by the brand on Saturday.

Not surprisingly, this isn’t the first time the Unilever brand’s advertisements have gone diametrically opposite to their intended messaging. Naomi was enraged enough to share a few more examples of the brand’s past #epicfails in her tweet.

Dove's racist advertising is nothing new… just the most recent of many pic.twitter.com/U3fdRICHZv

— Blk Girl Culture (@blkgirlculture) October 8, 2017

Okay, we have ONE question: WHO APPROVES THESE?

It doesn’t take a team of rocket scientist to figure out that “nourishing lotion for normal to dark skin” wouldn’t really go down well with black women. And using black and white women to depict the whole ‘dark before and light after’ transition? Pushing your luck much, Dove?

Of course, just like every brand on damage control, Dove released a statement on both Twitter and Facebook, claiming that they regret how the image ‘missed the mark’ in being considerate of women of colour.

An image we recently posted on Facebook missed the mark in representing women of color thoughtfully. We deeply regret the offense it caused.

— Dove (@Dove) October 7, 2017

For a brand that has been advocating for real beauty since almost a decade now, such mistakes could pose a serious threat to the credibility of their brand’s messaging.

There’s a thin line between being clever with your creativity and being downright insulting. It’s high time brands got their priorities right.

But for now, Dove has hands down made a boo-boo and needs to keep a close eye on the people handling its social media pages!