A Nivea advert promoting a product for “visibly fairer skin” has been branded racist across social media.
The advert was showcased on TV and billboards across the African continent in countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Cameroon.
Words such as “visibly lightens” appeared on screens as former Miss Nigeria Omowunmi Akinnifesi starts to rub the moisturiser into her skin which then becomes fairer.
Across the globe, consumers on social media were furious and started sharing images of the ads with hashtags such as #pullitdown.
Model Munroe Bergdorf, who recently spoke out about a “racially insensitive” Dove advert in her New Activists video diary, has highlighted the impact advertisers for brands such as Nivea have globally.
“Advertisers have the power to change this narrative, but campaign after campaign we see it being used worldwide,” she wrote on Instagram.
“Making money out of making people hate themselves is never acceptable.”
The Nivea advert also plays on other Eurocentric beauty standards.
Omowunmi Akinnifesi is shown being mistaken for being a “sister” as she picks her child up from school, implying motherhood does not usually look this good.
In a statement sent to HuffPost UK a spokesperson for Nivea’s owners, Beiersdorf AG, said they did not intend to offend consumers, but defended the promotion of products intended to lighten skin.
“We recognise the concerns raised by some consumers regarding a Nivea product communication in Ghana and take them very seriously,” they said. “Our intention is never to offend our consumers.
“As a global company, Beiersdorf offers a wide range of products that are aimed to address the diverse skin care needs of our consumers around the world.
“We acknowledge every consumer’s right to choose products according to their personal preferences, and we are guided by that to provide them with high-quality skin care product choices.”
People on Twitter agreed that this is part of a larger issue.
This is not the first time Nivea has been called on to apologise for its adverts.
In April this year, they ran a campaign with the slogan “white is purity”.