Nivea's Racist “Re-Civilize Yourself” Afro Ad (picture)

[Liberal_in_LA]

Nivea Apologizes For Racist “Re-Civilize Yourself” Afro Ad

Nivea has apologized for an advertisement they placed in Esquire that featured a clean cut African American male throwing a mask of a face with an Afro and beard with the title “Look Like You Give a Damn. Re-civilize Yourself.”

People quickly turned to social networking and Twitter to voice displeasure over the ad.

“The image isn’t going over well, particularly with those who think the head kind of looks like Cornel West. There is a white-man version, but there’s no talk of re-civilizing him,” AdWeek.com wrote today

http://newsone.com/nation/casey-gane-mccalla/racist-nivea-ad-afro-mask/

Nivea, an international skin–care company released a print ad featuring a African American man attempting to throw a decapitated head away in an effort to reach out for a wider demographic to men, particularly in the black community.

The ad copy read: “Re–Civilize Yourself.”

Apparently, the company’s message deems that an Afro­–style haircut is not civilized, and that particular hairstyle is predominately worn and favored by people in black communities such as Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York and Philadelphia.

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Aside from the ad being racially offensive, the idea of featuring an African American man holding a decapitated head in an ad to appear in a National Magazine shows a lack of creative direction.

http://www.examiner.com/marketing-in-los-angeles/nivea-for-men-ad-pulled-for-being-racially-offensive-to-black-community