SheaMoisture has had its ups and downs with its consumers. Though the brand is easily one of most natural women’s go-to when it comes washing, conditioning and styling products, some of their business moves over the years have left loyal buyers uneasy.
It was two years ago that the brand first came under serious fire for using an image “of a little girl with a puzzled expression” that wasn’t ethnic like their consumer base.
And when Sundial Brands, the umbrella company for SheaMoisture and Nubian Heritage took on an investor in late 2015, many were quick to claim the independent, Black-owned, family-run business was selling out. At the time, Sundial’s founder and CEO Richelieu Dennis said that was far from the case, but SheaMoisture’s latest ad has many saying otherwise.
What I’m sure you’ll immediately notice in the 1-minute clip is the women who made SheaMoisture a success — you know kinky-curly curls who patronized the brand loyally from the time of their TWA to their current big curly fro — are missing. The ad centers on a Caucasian woman and another woman who appears to be biracial and doesn’t exactly have the kind of curls most girls are teased for let alone have a problem finding products to use on.
It’s for that reason Twitter users like Nana Jibril have declared “SheaMoisture is cancelled,” explaining:
SheaMoisture said
to Black women that have been supporting them just to appeal to Beckys. They gon learn the value of Black buying power.
BW haven’t experienced “hair hate.” We experience something far worse. The nerve to say WW have experienced anything that could even compare
While I’m sure SheaMoisture’s defense is the need to “diversify” for profits sake, there’s no legitimate argument for the blatant erasure of African American women who made the brand what it is. While I’m sure SheaMoisture didn’t intend to send the message that they don’t want kinky girl’s business anymore, that’s certainly the takeaway of many of Black Twitter’s elite who have declared they’ll be conditioning their strands and sealing their ends with products from a different brand going forward.
What do you think about this ad? Will you still support SheaMoisture?
