immortal-joe
Member
Incompetence of the highest degree.
Nivea wins most racist ad for 2017
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Sunster
Member
ok I genuinely didn't know that. that's what i wanted to know. I'm here in the Philippines right now and there are ads for skin lightening everywhere. I literally just saw one for Vaseline. I asked my friends here about it and they said it's like Americans with tanning. It's just the cool thing to be light here. I didn't wanna judge them.
bootsthecat
Banned
So, an ad targeted for the Middle Eastern market gets shared on western social media, and the rage ensues. Could someone from the ME comment how you would interpret the ad? Half the face creams on the Nivea ME website are 'fairness' related.
PinkyMonkey
Banned
Lol, this outrage culture is getting out of hand.
This is a great example of how people go out of their way to be offended.
Guys, context makes this ad not a racist ad. I was outraged too at seeing the pic in OP, but then I googled the product and read the description, the ad is fine.
This is a great example of how people go out of their way to be offended.
Guys, context makes this ad not a racist ad. I was outraged too at seeing the pic in OP, but then I googled the product and read the description, the ad is fine.
Oh damn... that looks like it probably was intended to be.
I cannot unsee.
Fuck Nivea again, doubly so.
In most cases, skin lightning is permanent and can at times be extremely unsafe.
Tanning not as permanent and I'm sure is far safer.
And people who tan don't usually hold deep disdain for their paleness.
Yes to coconut oil lip balm
HawksWinStanley
Member
You've gotta be joking.
Why do folks think that Nivea's intentions are at all relevant? If the actual messaging is fucked who cares if the people at Nivea are nice people and didn't mean to say that?
Nivea isn't a person. It's a multi-billion dollar business. There's too much money and too many people involved in advertising to excuse these fuck ups. They deserve absolutely no sympathy for letting ads like these pass the radar.
Nivea isn't a person. It's a multi-billion dollar business. There's too much money and too many people involved in advertising to excuse these fuck ups. They deserve absolutely no sympathy for letting ads like these pass the radar.
This is way more racist then the ad in the op wtf
and the same company, so we know they racist
Unintentional racist imagery is still racist imagery.
You really shouldn't have to google a product after seeing an ad to determine if the ad was meant to be racist or not.
I have never thought of clothing as having the properties of purity. Never once have I looked at an unstained shirt and thought, "That is pure as fuck."
I'm getting tired of people telling me I'm reading too much in to things with obvious racial connotations.
Contextual and historical reasons. I'm not an expert on all regions and cultures mind you. Whiteness was used as a class thing in the past and is still used in some places as a sign of class even today. The idea being that "oh you are sun tanned. That means you work in the field and are a peasant". You being less white made you lesser. In India I believe the skin whitening products are essentially for the same class reason. The fairer the Indian woman looks the "better" she is in terms of class. Other Asian countries are also very obsessed with being snow white too but I don't know enough exactly to understand what is the specifics of various countries there.
You bring up tanning. Yeah in lots of western countries it's done by all sorts of people. Even Asians which you mentioned in your post (though you meant it in the opposite way). It's just a beauty decision that isn't based on anything historical or racial in terms of "racial hierarchy". If you want a tan you just go in the sun and that's that. Or you want to force it you go get a tan in the salon. But the implications of whitening your skin is about "racial hierarchy". Especially if you live in a multicultural country there is sensitivity to that that because white should not mean "best" and less white should not mean "lesser". But the implication with whitening is that "I gotta keep up with the top race. The whites". Not that you have to actually be ethnically white, but if your skin is fairer you are apparently more equal, let's say. Thus it veers into a kind of "racial hierarchy" region of problems. So tanning and skin whitening have different connotations. The context can also change region to region and I don't know how every country views such things and through what prism.
Tom just can't catch a break.
TheLostBigBoss
Banned
That ad is like 5 years old, so no.
People are only googling to prove that white (in an imagery sense, NOT a racial sense) has always had a connotation with purity. Hence why meditation techniques and the like always have you visualizing a white light. Is the ad unaware? Perhaps. Racist? Ehh..
backflip10019
Member
Intention matters because context matters.
Oh okay, still a fucked up ad though.
There's no context that justifies this ad's existence
Captain Smoker
Member
Because noone does this consciously.
Why do you think Darth Vader is clothed all in black or Darth Maul is red and black instead of white and green?
Well, he looks evil as fuck.
HawksWinStanley
Member
You're tired of people telling you you're reading into things when you don't bother to acknowledge context or connotation? That's so weird...
Sunster
Member
I agree with you thanks for explaining. I know if I told a Filipino here that, they'd be like, "ha? no way!" though.
FreeMufasa
Junior Member
It is kind of funny how in this situation and similar ones us minorities see the racial connotations, the racist shitheads see it but then there's that group who never seem to see it and blurt out excuses. "You guys are looking into it too hard. There's nothing there"
backflip10019
Member
The context is that there's a trend in beauty product marketing specifically in the deodorant space to sell a product as not leaving behind stains on clothing. That's the #1 message that brands like Dove, Secret and now Nivea are pushing.
When you combine this context with the context that this is coming from a Middle Eastern ad agency, where sensitivities toward race are nowhere near those in the US/EU, then it makes sense in the context of the culture it was released within.
I know this because my fiancee works in this beauty marketing space and I've worked in advertising for nearly a decade.
MarkMclovin
Member
I'm trying to come up with a reasonable explanation going with the benefit of the doubt on the smallest fucking scale, but I just can't. I just don't get the message they are trying to put out.
If the woman was wearing a white wedding dress, then maybe, just maybe I could understand. But then, it's a Nivea advert, so I dunno.
If the woman was wearing a white wedding dress, then maybe, just maybe I could understand. But then, it's a Nivea advert, so I dunno.
It's really weird having any solidarity with Alt-Right White Supremacists but being aware of racist imagery seems to be it. *sigh*
It's like a coworker of mine when I point out some racist shit that happened and he's like "Well what were you doing to be called that???" Bruh come on man! He's also the guy that said "My grandmother isn't racist she just thinks all black men want to rape her..."
Talking about deodorant leaving streaks here, right?
I think the demon horns make him look evil, personally. Those color my interpretation first.
lol.
At white is purity?
That is a color association which exists for already almost 4000-5000 years and in several cultures. Even in Japan white means purity, in ancient Egypt white meant purity. This is outrage culture and nothing else.
People have no clue what they are talking about. White as a symbol of wealth was exiting since forever, because it was always associated with the fact, that you could stay inside, not have to work in the sun with your hands.
Leatherface
Member
I'll check out the video in a bit thanks. In the meantime though this passive racism you speak of, isn't this a slippery slope really? I mean it's easy to construe various words as "racist" if you try hard enough. Should the world have to walk on egg shells with trigger words to protect feelings? I mean there are ads like this one where it's obvious they simply didn't think it through and then there are for real racist things out there. What should we be focusing on?
Sunster
Member
i mean, we'd never see a jedi in black robes as their main outfit. i don't think people associate black and darkness with evil because of black people. but the association is there.
I'm a racial minority and even I think it's reaching a bit.
Alcotholic
Banned
It's bizarre Nivea has a series of racist sounding ads.
SafeinSound
Member
Literally exactly what I was going to say.
No, it's definitely not because of black people, but you're right, the association is there.
wtf, these are so blatant
Clockwork
Member
Not all of us need to Google what is common knowledge.
1. Intent doesn't matter. If the messaging is coming off as tone deaf it is the fault of the advertisers and no one else's.
2. This ad didn't run in the Middle East. It was released on the internet. That's a global stage, which means it's available to everyone​. Under that context, advertisers can't operate under the pretense of their ads being for certain eyes only. If they want to run fucked up ads like this, even on just billboards or in magazines, they should do so knowing that it will likely find its way to the internet and will receive its fair share of criticism. That goes for any ad agency on any part of the globe.
3. Your experience in advertising doesn't make you an authority on which responses are justified.
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
Wtf
KonradLaw
Member
The worship of light skin existed in asian cultures long before europeans came.
If you are dark you are a dirty peseant that spends all his time working in fields. If you're fair skinned you are wealthy enough to avoid having to work in the fields. Therefore the lighter your skin the better.
It was exactly the same in Europe too. You got tanned = you were poor. Tanning as sign of health only recently became popular and that trends seems to be very short lived and we're getting back to the whiter the better
kunonabi
Member
Based on the bottle and this I get the feeling there is supposed to be a matching "black is" ad much like that PlayStation debacle.
Of course, with that re-civilize ad maybe not.
BlueTsunami
there is joy in sucking dick
Where is "Black dont crack"?
But seriously, the track record of this shit is eyebrow raising too
But seriously, the track record of this shit is eyebrow raising too
Jesus christ.
You contradict yourself. Class hierarchy is not the same as racial hierarchy, you even give a solid reasoning as to why it is not racial hierarchy, but simply to denote that you have a high earning office job (intra racial class distinction). Tanning is done for the exact same reason, it shows that within the norm of office jobs (or cold climates which lead to white skins), you are affluent enough to take frequent holidays to far away places. I can guarantee you that when office jobs become the norm in developing countries, in a hundred years people will no longer whiten themselves, but start tanning. You can already see some early signs of this in Japan.
The Futurist
Member
It is likely the model had no insight whatsoever into the ad copy or that it would come off this way. The direction given was probably "you're a new groomed man who's tossing his unkempt self into the distance." It's possible he wasn't even holding a mask and that was added as CG or Photoshopped in.
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