Nivea releases 'White purity' ad in Middle East; issues apology after Twitter backlash

Nivea recently put out an ad in the Middle East for which it received a lot of flak on social media for being racist. This ad was released barely days after Pepsi put out ad featuring Kendall Jenner, which was criticised for making light of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Nivea FB post yest (they took it dwn) and the Pepsi ad 2day. These glaring missteps are directly related to lack of internal inclusiveness pic.twitter.com/jyB17i9tM8

— Sakita Holley (@itsSakita) April 4, 2017

The ad was for its product Black & White deodorant and featured the words, “White is purity” as a caption on a picture of a woman with her back to the camera sitting in front of a window. It did find support and appreciation among some people. A significant number of Twitter users, however, called out Nivea for propagating a racist notion.

Come on #Nivea. This is so racist that I do not even know where to begin.😠 Speechless. In future, refer to clothes or products, not colors. pic.twitter.com/m0KTSALFKo

— Scott Bellows (@ScottProfessor) April 4, 2017

Some even pointed out that this is routine when it comes to companies that sell skin lightening cosmetics.

Many even joked about how Nivea has outdone Pepsi with this ad. The Pepsi ad featured Kendall Jenner offering a can of the soft drink to a police officer at a protest against police brutality, which people criticised for undermining the struggle of Black rights activists such as Martin Luther King Jr.

The Pepsi Ad, PlayStation Ad, Nivea Ad, and now this. Is it what-can-we-do-to-purposely-insult-Black-people-week? Am I missing something? https://t.co/r7aXeFQ15i

— JJ Bola (@JJ_Bola) April 6, 2017

In the past, Nivea has been criticised for an ad that portrayed an African American man “re-civilvised” when he ditched his Afro hairdo, instead going for a regular hairdo.