Skincare brand Nivea forced to retract ‘white is purity’ ad over racism controversy
SKINCARE brand Nivea has been forced to pull one of its ads after a huge backlash online, where it was accused of racism.
SKINCARE brand Nivea has been forced to pull one of its ads after a huge backlash online, where it was labelled “racially insensitive”.
The ad for its “invisible” women’s deodorant was posted on the brand’s Facebook page and featured a model pictured from the back, wearing a white robe, with the slogan “white is purity” written in blue capital letters.
“Keep it clean, keep it bright. Don’t let anything ruin it,” the Facebook post alongside it read.
What is NIVEA trying to do exactly? pic.twitter.com/vKSQLxARoW
— idk her (@MONETSTCROlX) April 3, 2017
Users flooded Nivea’s social media account, accusing the brand of racism, while others actually supported its white supremacist undertones, even doctoring other Nivea ads into racist memes.
The ad and associated comments have since been deleted from Nivea’s Facebook page.
“Are the comments meant to be like funny? I genuinely can’t tell what’s jokes and what’s rampant Nazism? Maybe I’m not edgy enough to get the humour,” one user wrote, according to metro.co.uk.
In a statement, the German-based skincare brand said the ad “was not meant to be racially insensitive”.
#Nivea: the official moisturizer/anti-perspirant of the #AltRight pic.twitter.com/7Gz8PI3Ft4
— Cecilia Davenport (@CWDaven) April 3, 2017
“The recent post regarding Black & White Invisible Deodorant originated from the NIVEA Middle East Facebook page,” the brand wrote on Facebook.
“The NIVEA Middle East advertisement was not meant to be racially insensitive. We sincerely apologise. The post has been removed.
“Diversity, tolerance and equal opportunity are fundamental values of NIVEA.”
Nivea’s Facebook page has 19 million followers globally and automatically diverts to a local page depending on where a user accesses it.