Just weeks after the beauty brand ‘Dove’ had to apologize for an online advert that was perceived as “racist”, the beauty brand Nivea is now under fire for a racially-charged ad campaign where their moisturizer product promises to ‘visibly lighten’ skin.
TV and promotional billboards for Nivea’s ‘natural fairness’ moisturizer have spread to different African countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Senegal.
The commercial displays the former Miss Nigeria Omowunmi Akinnifesi with the words ‘For visibly fairer skin’ written across her body, while the TV commercial shows the model’s skin lighting up and becoming whiter as she happily applies the cream.
This is not the first time that Nivea has pulled something racially-charged like this. Back in April, the skincare company released an ad that declared that ‘White is Purity’. They were forced to take down the ad due to many complaints and the reference to white people as the embodiment of purity.
Many social media users have also expressed their outrage towards the advertisement and have demanded that the billboards be removed using the #PULLITDOWNNOW.
What do you think about the controversial commercial?
