Source Says Black Man Is Behind Nivea’s Controversial Ad, Apology Released

Thursday Aug 18, 2011 – by Clutch

After blogs, tweets, and news outlets chimed in on Nivea’s controversial “Look Like You Give A Damn” campaign—featuring a clean-cut Black man holding the head of a caveman look-a-like with brown skin and an afro—the skin care giant decided to pull the ad, and apologize for offending consumers.

Today, Nivea issued an apology via Facebook:

Thank you for caring enough to give us your feedback about the recent “Re-civilized” NIVEA FOR MEN ad. This ad was inappropriate and offensive. It was never our intention to offend anyone, and for this we are deeply sorry. This ad will never be used again. Diversity and equal opportunity are crucial values of our company.

Although the advertisement ran in Esquire, the web, and was, according to the company, “inappropriate and offensive,” the people over at Nivea decided to use it anyway.

According to a credible source who worked on the project, the “Look Like You Give A Damn” campaign was the brainchild of Cliff Carson, a VP from the New York based agency PMK BNC who handles all branding and marketing strategy for Nivea, and he happens to be African American. The source says Carson was hired to target the urban market.

The source tells Clutch, “The VP in charge of the entire marketing campaign for the men’s skin care line is a Black male who mainly got in the position to put Blacks on a cosmetics branding pedestal – hence the brand now having a Black spokesmodel.”

Further details from the source reveals the initial ad featuring a Black male model is apart of a larger series of more print ads, viral, and commercial spots which will also feature White male models using similar text. We should also note the model in the now controversial ad is BJ Williams, and popular writer, Oren Wilkes, is a Nivea blogger ambassador and agency creative on the project.

But on the latest Nivea ad featuring a White male model, the former ‘Civilized’ text is replaced with the line ‘Sin city isn’t an excuse to look like hell.’

Is it safe to say Black men look uncivilized, and White men look like hell?

What do you think of Nivea’s apology? Why do companies continue to miss the mark when marketing toward multicultural audiences?

*Reporting by Britni Danielle & Geneva S. Thomas

Here's the racism says:

August 19, 2011 at 10:12 pm

The ad’s message is “Africans are uncivilized. Black folks, distance yourselves as much as possible for all things African. Improve your hair- don’t wear it in its natural state- become civilized, etc.” It’s a reinforcement of self-hate among Black people, and justifies the and further perpetuates the notion that “White is right,” as well as the idea that Africans are uncivilized. Ironically, throughout history, African civilizations have been around far longer and have been far more advanced and copied from and ultimately exploited than ANY other.

↑ Reply

MissLM says:

August 20, 2011 at 5:24 pm

I think she says it all!

Grada Kilomba on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj3esOI11Pg

keianaburch says:

August 21, 2011 at 1:24 am

i read the comments and I could see the point of view from people that thought it was racist, yes society does dictate that we [black people] conform, so with that I understand, but, that was clearly not the intention, if you saw someone on the street with uncombed hair and a scruffy beard most people would say he need to practice some personal grooming. IF the person behind the mask had a groomed beard and hair would with the same slogan would this still be as controversial. If all the people that were offended did not notice the white man had the same type of part in the add, slightly different slogan, but i think that had the slogans been reversed we would still had this dilema. You want black people to work in Hollywood without stereotypical roles, but when they get something different society still isn’t happy. As long as you make it about race, it will always be about race. Race is just an arbitrary characteristic that we choose to accept and give to others.

@SugarKovalczyk says:

August 22, 2011 at 2:52 am

I hated the ad and found it offensive. I didn’t like the implication/stereotype that longer hair and a beard equaled not giving a damn.

I was offended by the appeal to conformity.

I was offended by the suggestion that there was only one appropriate way to look and that anything else was less than.

I was offended by what I perceived as classism.

At no point was I offended racially. The closest I was to being offended racially was the implication that brothers with long hair and beards don’t give a damn.

I found the ad with the white model just as offensive.

All that being said I don’t think they should cancel the ad or apologize. I’m not the target audience and I doubt that very many in the target audience would be offended by the ad.

Adjoa says:

August 24, 2011 at 9:33 am

I like your perspective hun.

MrCead says:

August 22, 2011 at 1:06 pm

When I saw the ad for the first time, I knew there would be some backlash given various people’s opinions regarding beards and afros. The word “civilized” also does not belong. I personally thought it was tasteless using what looks like a severed head with the word “civilized” within the same eye space – not the actual Black male reference. The model taking off a “mask” would have worked better ( I am graphic designer). They are not modelling clothes so why a full body shot? However to keep the perspective, people complain fiercely about air brushing ads also and the movement is growing. Conclusion, don’t look for the reversal to justify the actual because it’s not a “true” reversal. The White ad did not offend because no one found it offensive, that is all. There are plenty of offensive ads that features Whites, believe me. Blacks are not the opposite of Whites, women are not the opposites of men. People are simply different and they will react differently, use that rationale, it’s safer.

NIVEA'S AD FOR MEN RACIALLY OFFENSIVE | TVONEONLINE | The Spin says:

August 22, 2011 at 6:49 pm

[...] Source [...]

Vogue Italia Features "Slave Earrings," Are You Grabbing A Pair? says:

August 23, 2011 at 6:08 pm

[...] Nivea ad was enough to inspire you to “Re-Civilize yourself,” leave it to Vogue Italia to glamorize slavery. Not sure [...]

Kae says:

August 24, 2011 at 8:59 am

I personally do not think that they necessarily “missed the mark” with this ad. Granted, upon first reading this post I was a little unnerved by the wording. However, after hearing that there were other versions of the ad with the same premise that feature men of other ethnic backgrounds I will have to charge this to the game of US sometimes being oversensitive. It states in this post that the gentleman behind this advertisement is in the business of giving more African Americans a spot in the market. I can say that maybe the wording was a little off, but we also have to realize that every time someone says something we can’t automatically hop on the race train. This attitude may ultimately turn advertisers and other companies off from working with/featuring us in their work because they are afraid of saying or displaying the wrong image even if it was not their intention by a long shot. Sometimes we have to calm down.