Including Diversity

I worked with a group in 2019 to examine literature and advertising that discriminated against people of color. In this project, we came to find out that a trusted brand, Nivea, has been discriminating against people of color for decades. Below you will find the essay, along with images, submitted for this assignment. 

Mass media is described as bait for the mass audience. For mass media to be successful, it must include material that attracts the highest amount of people, while also avoiding material that could offend others in the audience. Before laws surrounding media were challenged, the media would ignore people of color, use stereotypes, and avoid discussions of marginalization. Racism within advertisements is paralleled with stereotypical images found in entertainment and news.

Many facets of society have negatively affected people of color over the years. Religion, literature, film and advertising have all played a part in how people of color are viewed by society. According to an Anglo-Saxon belief, white represented pure, clean, good, and spiritual light. On the other hand, they believed darker skin represented impurity, filth, evil, and spiritual darkness. 

Within early films, the characterization of people of color portrayed white superiority. The characters of color were viewed as intellectually and morally inferior. The characters of color exhibited inferior strategies in warfare, little to no occupational status, poor speech patterns, a low regard for human life, criminal behavior, sexual promiscuity and drug or alcohol abuse. These films offered a strong message advising against sexual contact between races that left people of color marginalized. 

As times began to change, Hollywood revised their racist stereotypes. The new stereotypical character of color "knew their place" in society. These characters became a means of entertainment. Within musicals, their roles were used to demonstrate their "rhythmic" talents. In other films, people of color were used for comedy as maids, sidekicks, and lazy slaves, all of which contributed to more marginalization and no reparation.

In 1884, Pear Soap released an advertisement that pictured a white child bathing a black child. Once the child is out of the bath, his skin is dramatically white. This advertisement features the idea that darker skin is impure and one must wash themselves with Pear Soap to achieve a clean, white look (Parker 18).

In 1899, Pear Soap released another advertisement.  This advertisement pictured a white man in a white suit washing his hands in a sink as if taken from an open porthole. In the top corners and the lower-left corner are pictures of ships at different stages of travel. The bottom right corner shows a white woman offering a bar of soap to a person of color who is assumed to be a native to the island. The copy of the ad discusses how it is the white man’s burden to show “othered” people how to be clean (Parker 20).

Brands like Pear Soap have led the way for other brands, such as Dove, L’Oreal, and Nivea, to produce advertisements with racial undertones. Recently, Dove was under fire for an advertisement that showed a woman of color taking off her dark shirt and becoming a white woman. Many people became enraged with the idea of the woman becoming white, and Dove had to issue an apology. The woman of color in the ad responded to public outcry and defended Dove by saying they never had ill intentions for women of color.

In 2011, Nivea released their “Give a Damn” campaign, which was intended to sell men’s grooming products. In the campaign, Nivea had four different ads, only one of which involved racism. Two of their ads involved a group of diverse men, clean-shaven and dressed in business attire, with the copy, “Look like you give a damn.” Another ad pictured a white man, clean-shaven and in business attire, holding another version of his head with overgrown hair, resembling a caveman. The ad’s copy stated, “Sin City isn’t an excuse to look like hell.” The final ad pictures a man of color in a similar style to the white man, but he is throwing his head away with the copy saying, “Re-civilize yourself.” The ad raised concern because it was the only ad that discussed re-civilization while portraying a man of color (Nudd 2011).

In 2017, Nivea released an ad for their new, invisible deodorant, a deodorant that doesn’t leave marks on your skin or clothes. In the ad, a woman has her back to the camera and is seen wrapped in a white robe, backlit by a white light. The copy of the ad says, “White is purity.” This ad caused a lot of controversy. Many people felt the ad was offensive by telling them that the only acceptable skin color was white. On the other hand, a white supremacist Facebook group praised Nivea for their views and encouraged everyone to purchase their products (Wang 2017).

A few months later, Nivea released an ad for their new product that lightened skin. In the video, a woman of color is seen using the skin lightening lotion. After applying the lotion, the woman’s skin becomes visibly lighter, almost white. After applying the lotion, the woman becomes happier. When she picks up her daughter from school, a man mistakes her for the daughter’s sister and then proceeds to compliment her fairer skin. The ad concerned many who felt the ad was encouraging them to hate their darker skin (Nwankwo 2017).

To fix the original ads, our group wants to combine the three Nivea products into one, reparation campaign. Our campaign is called the Courage Campaign. To fix the racist problems in the ads, we will have a celebrity endorsement featuring Lizzo, a female celebrity who is an icon for body positivity, and change the images and copy of each ad.

Our change begins with the “White is Purity” ad. Our group found that focusing on the lack of deodorant stains is more appropriate than the original ad’s. To change it, we used a picture of people on a rollercoaster. In the photo, the woman has her arms up, freely enjoying the ride with no stains around her underarms. Lizzo is accompanying the woman on the ride and the copy states, “Have courage in what you wear.” 

To fix the “Re-civilize yourself” ad, we started by changing the copy to say, “Have the courage to set the standard.” Men are often allowed to look more disheveled in public compared to women. We did not want to promote this stereotype, but we wanted to encourage men to take pride in how they look. Our new ad features well-dressed, clean-shaven men just like the original ad, but with the addition of Lizzo looking impressed with how they look in the foreground. We hope that this change would encourage men to want to look better groomed.

Lastly, to fix the ad that focuses on lightening skin, we realize the issue is much deeper than racism alone. Through research, we found that there are no clear distinctions between “Whitening,” “Lightening” and “Brightening” in the advertising industry, and in fact, advertisers typically interchange these words. Since there is no clear and accurate definition of these said terms, there’s no regulation on how they can be used in advertising. We want to change that by clearly defining these terms and enlisting regulatory language backed by the FDA. The most appropriate term for Nivea to use would be “Brighten” or “Glow.”

To explain, the real distinctions between the terms all depend on how specific ingredients interact with the body’s chemistry. Whitening and lightening products generally work in similar ways, except for the ingredients used (Koul, 2017). Whitening agents negatively affect the skin’s ability to produce melanin, your body’s defense against UVA and UVB radiation from the sun and are illegal to sell in the U.S. (Webster, 2007, p. 137). Lightening agents are weaker and legally allowed but still affect your body’s melanin production. However, brightening agents safely aid in skin cell reproduction and the shedding of dead skin cells therefore brightening creams result in giving someone more radiant, healthier-looking skin (Obidoa & Chidozie, 2018). Furthermore, products that contain the ingredients found in whitening and lightening creams are not usually found in body lotions. They are typically available in OTC spot treatment products or prescription medications for hyperpigmentation, except for those that contain mercury (Koul, 2017). The only two terms that could be interchanged with each other are “Whitening” and “Lightening,” but never “Brightening.”

Our idea for the ad is to have Lizzo’s silhouette backlit by a glowing light to focus on having glowing skin. The copy for the ad is, “Have the courage to glow,” Unfortunately, Nivea’s Natural Fairness body lotion is a skin-lightening product. Our fix for that is to no longer carry the product and focus more on those that have brightening benefits.

Moving forward, brands should be aware of the impact of their words and actions. Consumers will always interpret their own meaning from advertisements, whether it was made with good intentions or not. As a group, we value the importance of diversity in media and we want to encourage consumers that there is never anything wrong with the color of their skin. The main issue with these ads is the language that is used in all of them, but we also realize these issues are not only skin deep, but deeply rooted in racism, colorism and lack of empathy. We’ll have to scrub it out.