Nivea recently launched a campaign to advertise their new line of mens products called "Look like you give a damn". This is the first ad in the series. It depicts a clean shaven and nicely dressed African American man, tossing away the old scruffy version of himself. There are two ways that this advertisement is able to be read. I took the first side which is, "Oh wow, this guy used these products and became a whole different man, and maybe even better person because of it. Maybe I should tell my Dad and brother about them because they could use a little cleaning up themselves". Others read it like this, "Oh wow, Nivea has a black man on their ad, and it is racist because it infers that all black men are uncivilized, scruffy and have afros". There are many keywords that play into the interpretation of this ad. The interpretations above are all
signs; clean shaven, nicely dressed as well as scruffy and afros. The
subject is a put together man and it persuades the consumer to buy the product to transform like he did.
When I saw the controversy over this ad I was appalled. As I read a little further into this issue I found out that it was actually a black man who came up with the idea for the campaign. So looking from a
production standpoint, there was absolutely no intention of racism whatsoever. Nivea publicly apologized, and stated that diversity and equal opportunity are crucial values in their company. Nivea is able to
identify with a HUGE audience. Their focus in this campaign is men of all ages. The subject is a middle aged man, and he is posed an athletic stance, which many men can relate to. As for
presentation, they are being modern and light. They use the word "damn" in their slogan, which shows they are not trying to be uptight and super professional. As I said before, the first ad was a part of a series. On the left is the second ad to be released, picturing a white male with his own scruffy head. Society today searches too hard to find fault and criticism in everything. I believe this campaign had no intention of being racist, and personally I think it is very clever.
When I saw the controversy over this ad I was appalled. As I read a little further into this issue I found out that it was actually a black man who came up with the idea for the campaign. So looking from a production standpoint, there was absolutely no intention of racism whatsoever. Nivea publicly apologized, and stated that diversity and equal opportunity are crucial values in their company. Nivea is able to identify with a HUGE audience. Their focus in this campaign is men of all ages. The subject is a middle aged man, and he is posed an athletic stance, which many men can relate to. As for presentation, they are being modern and light. They use the word "damn" in their slogan, which shows they are not trying to be uptight and super professional. As I said before, the first ad was a part of a series. On the left is the second ad to be released, picturing a white male with his own scruffy head. Society today searches too hard to find fault and criticism in everything. I believe this campaign had no intention of being racist, and personally I think it is very clever.
I was also surprised by the reaction to this ad. It just goes to show how deeply ingrained certain perceptions of signs can be. The implication that a black man with an afro is uncivilized screams racism to some. For me personally, the fact that he was black didn't really cross my mind in any significant way; instead I felt like I, as a white male, could really relate to this commercial because I often fluctuate between being clean-shaven and "uncivilized." It just goes to show how the same sign can signify different things for different people as well as how sign/signified relations can change over time.
ReplyDeleteI think its funny that in a society that preaches equality, as it says in our constitution, that Nivea a company who has manufactured for years image supplements is being scrutinized for this ad. It seems by forcing Nivea to change this ad in itself is putting black men and white men on different levels. The Geico advertisement isn't saying that white men are stupid and primitive, it's just a metaphor. It's also funny because this may put pressure on companies in which light they use African american subjects in advertisements. I agree with Eric though, I dont believe that Nivea meant for this to be racist.
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