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Thread: Dove Company's recent ad.........

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    Senior Member CathyA's Avatar
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    Dove Company's recent ad.........

    I agreed when I saw that people had reacted to Dove Soap's/cosmetic products commercials........They said it was unbelievably racist. It showed a black woman, then the black woman taking off her shirt, to reveal a white woman.......implying that the soap was so powerful, it could change you from black to white. The company removed the ads and apologized. I thought this was unbelievably awful.........until I found that it was only part of the commercial. It went on further to show the white woman taking off her shirt and turning into a Latina woman. This makes the ad entirely different, it seems to me. The point (I think), was the product was made for all types of skin.

    What do you all think? Maybe they should have put them in a different order? Seems like an over-reaction to me.
    Everyone seems to be soooo sensitive to everything.

  2. #2
    Yppej
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    You think they would have learned from the reaction to a similar ad by a Chinese laundry detergent company.

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    I think the problem was the taking off of a shirt was = to the taking off of the skin color. Taking off a shirt does not equal using a specific type of soap. If they had scanned into different bathrooms or at dressing tables and shown different women using the product it is a totally different situation. Or just different women doing the same thing. I think I would have made the same assumption on meaning.

    I would have just chalked it up to bad advertising companies. I mean every year there are compilations of stupid ads from all over the world and we have our share.

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    Senior Member CathyA's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sweetana3 View Post
    I think the problem was the taking off of a shirt was = to the taking off of the skin color. Taking off a shirt does not equal using a specific type of soap. If they had scanned into different bathrooms or at dressing tables and shown different women using the product it is a totally different situation. Or just different women doing the same thing. I think I would have made the same assumption on meaning.

    I would have just chalked it up to bad advertising companies. I mean every year there are compilations of stupid ads from all over the world and we have our share.
    Yeah, you're probably right. Sometimes you wonder who is making some of these ads, and how they even get through their "quality control".

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    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CathyA View Post
    Yeah, you're probably right. Sometimes you wonder who is making some of these ads, and how they even get through their "quality control".
    "Quality control" usually means good market research. I've done a LOT of market research on ad campaigns, and if they did it right, they would have had a heads-up in terms of the reaction. What might have happened in the research findings is a few "outliers" expressed concerns, but the management would have said "Oh, they're just outliers. Let's run the ad." It only takes one "outlier" for an "outcry."
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    Quote Originally Posted by CathyA View Post
    I agreed when I saw that people had reacted to Dove Soap's/cosmetic products commercials........They said it was unbelievably racist. It showed a black woman, then the black woman taking off her shirt, to reveal a white woman.......implying that the soap was so powerful, it could change you from black to white. The company removed the ads and apologized. I thought this was unbelievably awful.........until I found that it was only part of the commercial. It went on further to show the white woman taking off her shirt and turning into a Latina woman. This makes the ad entirely different, it seems to me. The point (I think), was the product was made for all types of skin.

    What do you all think? Maybe they should have put them in a different order? Seems like an over-reaction to me.
    Everyone seems to be soooo sensitive to everything.
    I agree with you. I think the habitual seekers of things to be offended by can be expected to seek their outrage fix in any way they can. Cutting a few seconds of video out of an ad for the proper level of bemoaning seems like a good way to do that.

    I didn't find the commercial to be offensive. I found it to be confusing.

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    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
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    Advertisers always need to be aware of cultural environment where they are advertising. I recall years ago reading about mega-blunders when American companies entered various foreign markets. For instance Gerber didn't understand that in Africa where literacy was/is lower the picture on a product is what's inside. A jar with a picture of a baby on it must therefore have mushed up babies in it... Yum! Anyone wanting to use race in any way whatsoever as an aspect of advertising in the US needs to be VERY careful. It's always been a hot button issue but with the identity politics of our president it's like kryptonite now. Someone at Dove should have been smart enough to pull the plug on this.

  8. #8
    Yppej
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    Jp1 my favorite was Chevy advertising the Nova in Puerto Rico. No va means doesn't go/doesn't run in Spanish.

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    Senior Member CathyA's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yppej View Post
    Jp1 my favorite was Chevy advertising the Nova in Puerto Rico. No va means doesn't go/doesn't run in Spanish.

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    The most puzzling ad to me is the one where a big ball of green mucus is telling us not to take the ads medicine. I laugh as I picture this idea being presented to the marketing bosses. It apparently works as it has been on for a couple years. I read books on TV ads back in the 70s and they were very funny and interesting. The Hidden Persuaders was a famous one. Marshall McCluan (sp) was a guru on the media and it's role in society.

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