In 2017, Dove went under fire as they received overwhelming backlash from an ad that audiences perceived as offensive and deeply controversial. The ad depicted three women, all of different ethnic backgrounds, removing their t-shirt to reveal the following woman. Audiences were enraged by the fact that it began with an African American woman of coloured skin morphing into a white woman. Although the company’s intentions were positive, Dove underwent severe scrutiny after being accused of “missing the mark” to represent women of colour appropriately.
As a multinational company with products sold in more than 80 countries worldwide, the company itself has a great reputation to uphold and image to preserve. Advertisements themselves are considered to be a medium for mass media, meaning it has the potential to reach a much greater audience compared to other forms. This causes advertisements to carry a heavyweight for its ability to be viewed internationally, atop of the audience the company has already captivated.
In this case particularly, there are suggestions that there is a need to assimilate into a ‘higher racial class’ – generally known to be white American. The ad itself seemingly advocates the idea of a certain racial hierarchy, one that dates back historically to racial segregation. The notion that there is an unspoken superiority and inferiority complex within the different races. Texts have the power to unconsciously perpetuate certain unspoken stereotypes or notions that might be untrue. As people view them on a day-to-day basis, it might be inadvertently engraved in themselves which causes them to unconsciously have this bias towards a certain group or identity. Representation in texts do often portray cultures and yet they also have the potential to form a culture, for people with similar exposures begin to share similar societal ideologies.
A mother who took to Twitter to voice their personal offence tweeted, “@Dove I also used dove on my daughter. She is 4. Do you want to tell her the colour she got from her mother is dirty?” If young an African American girl were to unknowingly walk around and perhaps catch sight of such an ad, even though there might not be a direct impact or change of thought, the seed idea may be planted in her mind to then develop into unjust impressions and perceptions.
The idea of representation is considered to be problematic in a sense that texts are under at times, an insurmountable pressure to get things right the first time around. Texts are open to public scrutiny which makes it vulnerable for audiences from a whole range of backgrounds to dive in head-first with their own opinions. The instances of representation of culture, identity and races need to be well thought through in order to prevent the possibility of highlighting any group of people in a negative light.
