Shea Moisture apologizes for offensive ad: ‘We really f-ed this one up’
After major backlash online, the company has issued an apology on Facebook, writing: "Wow, okay — so guys, listen, we really f-ed this one up."
Recently, Shea Moisture came under fire when they unveiled new ads targeted to non-black women, and black women responded harshly, feeling that the company that had long served them was now turning its back on them to pursue other audiences.
–Shea Moisture accused of alienating black women new ad–
Now, the company has issued an apology on Facebook, writing: “Wow, okay — so guys, listen, we really f-ed this one up. Please know that our intention was not — and would never be — to disrespect our community, and as such, we are pulling this piece immediately because it does not represent what we intended to communicate.”
The statement continues:
You guys know that we have always stood for inclusion in beauty and have always fought for our community and given them credit for not just building our business but for shifting the beauty landscape. So, the feedback we are seeing here brings to light a very important point. While this campaign included several different videos showing different ethnicities and hair types to demonstrate the breadth and depth of each individual’s hair journey, we must absolutely ensure moving forward that our community is well-represented in each one so that the women who have lead this movement never feel that their hair journey is minimized in any way. We are keenly aware of the journey that WOC face — and our work will continued to serve as the inspiration for work like the Perception Institute’s Good Hair Study/Implicit Association that suggests that a majority of people, regardless of race and gender, hold some bias towards women of color based on their textured or natural hair,” they added. “So, you’re right. We are different — and we should know better.
