Nivea

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Nivea Logo.png

Nivea is a German personal care product that specializes in body-care. Beiersdorf Global AG, headquartered in Hamburg, owns the firm. Paul Carl Beiersdorf established the company on March 28, 1886. It was sold to Oscar Troplowitz in 1890. Nivea is derived from the Latin adjectives niveus, nivea, and niveum, both of which mean "snow-white".[1]

Nivea received backlash in 2017 after promoting Black & White Invisible Deodorant with the word "white is purity" emblazoned over a picture of a woman wearing a white robe. The advertisement was shared on Nivea's Facebook page with the following caption: "Keep it clean, keep bright. Don’t let anything ruin it, #Invisible."[2]

Nivea White is Purity.jpg
Nivea racial ad.jpg

The Controversy

This isn't the first time Nivea has been accused of running racist advertisements. The business launched a commercial in 2011 featuring a well-dressed black man carrying the head of a man with an Afro. “Re-civilize yourself,” says the tagline. The campaign was considered "inappropriate and insulting" later Nivea, apologized for the campaign.[3] Following a similar backlash, Nivea was forced to delete the commercial at the time, but photos of it were resurfaced on social media this week following the "white is purity" backlash.

“Keep it clean, keep it bright. #Invisible, don't let anything ruin it.” says the "white is purity" advertisement tagline. NIVEA is stapling vague ideals of health and appearance into a white-contained label by using terms like "clean," "bright," and "ruin," as well as adding the officially ambiguous definition of "it." This is particularly true after thoroughly defining the danger and foreignness of blackness.[4]

Backlash

This commercial was greeted with not only a torrent of low-level public condemnation, but also a barrage of high-profile media coverage (New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and many more). In response to the offensive advertisement, the BBC released an article titled Nivea removes 'white is purity' deodorant advert branded 'racist'.

Apology

In a Facebook post, the company apologized for the commercial, claiming it was "not intended to be racially offensive." “That image was unacceptable and did not represent our company's standards. We sincerely regret this and have taken down the message. NIVEA's core principles are diversity and inclusion. We are proud to create goods that embrace beauty in all of its aspects. Discrimination of some sort is unacceptably offensive to us as a company, as workers, or as individuals.”

As consequences of being insensitive and offended many people, the ad removed two days after being posted on it's Facebook page and Nivea’s decided to stop the entire campaign.[5]

References

  1. Nivea. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  2. Peterson, Hayley. A skin-care brand is under fire for an ad promoting the phrase 'white is purity', Business Insider, 5 April 2017. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  3. Nudd, Tim. Nivea Apologizes for Wanting to ‘Re-Civilize’ Black Man, adweek.com, 18 August 2011. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  4. dylparker Nivea: Gendered and Raced Care of the Self, blog.reed.edu, 16 April 2017. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  5. Tsang, Amie. Nivea Pulls ‘White Is Purity’ Ad After Online Uproar, The New York Times, 4 April 2017. Retrieved December 25, 2020.