Was the New Nivea Ad Campaign For Men Culturally Insensitive?

August 19th, 2011 - By nativenotes

Have you seen Nivea’s new ad campaign, “Give A Damn” which features a black man tossing the head of his former self, which happens to be covered in an Afro and full beard? The text across the page reads, “Re-Civilize yourself.” Given the history of the savage African needing to be civilized by Europeans this probably wasn’t the best word choice for Nivea. The blogosphere and twitterverse went into an uproar and begged the question, “is this ad racist?”

Advertising Guru Steve Stoute quipped, “If we want to be really accurate in calling out the foul Nivea has committed, we should readjust and say they were being culturally insensitive.”

I would argue that Nivea is not only culturally insensitive but that they are flawed in attempting to reach their target demo for this particular ad, me. I’m a young black professional man, I like to keep my skin moisturized and I actually use Nivea products but there’s nothing about this ad that would attract me to this product.

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  • Iagree

    I am black…I have natural hair…so of course I was offended by this ad…it could have shown him with a lower (need a shape up) haircut, with a scruffy beard and that might not have been AS offensive…but they took it to a different level with the Afro’ed out (almost caveman looking) blackman and the use the word “re-civilize” cmon!! That is offensive…someone mentioned the White ad like this…it was on some ish like “Vegas isn’t a reason to look like this”…that’s pretty harmless and not racially offensive at all…whether the person who created the ad was black or not…its still not cool…

  • ana

    it isn't even about being "PC", just being conscious of the images being referenced
    "natural hair" has been perceived and sold as unkempt, dirty and uncivilized since day 1. the idea being first that Negroes should keep their hair covered at all times and progressing to the idea of being clean, nice and hire-worthy it must be shorn as close as possible or straightened as much as possible.
    and in a society where at this very moment we have women filing complaints and lawsuits against managers and corporations for maligning their appearance because they simply decided to no longer wear it chemically straightened, clearly it isn't a race-neutral issue.

    maybe most importantly,
    it simply isn't a good marketing campaign
    like the Got PMS one, who are they marketing to and what is their angle?
    especially given what they actually sell

  • MiniNeicy

    i didn't find this offensive, but when i found this article on the yahoo front page. ALL I SEEN was people giving racist joke remarks. on African Americans. and saying how they are never satisfied and always pulling out the race card. i was completely out raged!

  • 8ESBABY

    I'm black and I don't find the ad offensive at all. That's what our hair looks like in it's natural state and untamed. Now had there been a piece of watermelon in his mouth then THAT would be offensive.

    • …

      so the way to "tame" "our hair" is to cut it all off?

      • IllyPhilly

        No, just comb that raggedy looking ish! Yall missing the fact that the pic is a dingy looking fro and goatee

        • ana

          and you are missing the blatant fact that the "civilized" man does not have a manicured/combed/picked fro he has no fro, almost no head hair at all

  • WTF

    No it's not offensive plus they had another ad with a white guy in it. If you wanna see real stereotypical images of black people turn on any BET/VH1 reality show.

    • Canadian Visitor

      It only became offensive when they added the phrase 're-civilize yourself'. Surely they could have found a better phrase.

  • Ivory Tower Power

    that's offensive… i don't what the race of the creator is…

  • Boofinhoo

    Black Americans needs to go to college and educate themselves instead of sitting behind computer screens complainin about how they feel offended. Go to school so you are the ones making these commercials instead of whining

    • Worldchanger

      Agreed. What I got from that ad though was a afro that needed to be picked and a peasy beard. His old head did look rough and uncivilized. If he came up 2 me at a club or Denny's or if he was my doctor, I'd be turned off. Not cuz he's nappy and black, but because he looks dingy!!

    • Mary

      What era are you living in that you do not know that Black Americans do attend college, and are educated.That does not mean that we are all out there in the T.V, world making commercials. We hold other positions in society that contributes in a large way.But yet we are still called uncivilized. Go get a life and stop sitting behind your computer making untelligent comments in regards to one race of people. I may have to save your life on day.

      • Canadian Visitor

        Agreed! It has nothing to do with education. It has to do with cultural sensitivities. Also, Boofinhoo has to keep in mind that it's still a steep hill to climb for AA to get into those positions to make those ads.

  • JustAshley

    Oh wow. This is my first time seeing or hearing about the ad, but I can see how it came off as offensive.

  • Jai

    The ad is disturbing but when Nivea came out with an apology and said a BLACK MAN was responsible for creating the ad my question is what the hell was he thinking?