Dove "Missed the Mark" When It Released Racist Facebook Ad

The company released a racist facebook ad, later claiming that they "missed the mark."

Dove Product
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Image via Getty/Tengku Bahar

Dove Product

Skincare brand Dove released an undeniably racist Facebook ad on Saturday, showing a black woman turning white after using the company's lotion. 

An image we recently posted on Facebook missed the mark in representing women of color thoughtfully. We deeply regret the offense it caused.

— Dove (@Dove) October 7, 2017

Dove later took to Twitter to apologize for the ad, claiming that they evidently "missed the mark" when representing women of color. 

I wrote a paper on this in 2nd year. With this Dove ad.That Pepsi commercial was dumb and tone deaf. These soap ads are just flat out racist pic.twitter.com/hz2u2eTjH0

— i. adan (@Imman_Adan) April 7, 2017

Missed the mark is certainly an understatement, given the nature of the ad. However the brand has released racially charged ads in the past, to which they've received a great deal of criticism for. 

Dear Dove, Saying you "missed the mark" with that demonically racist AD is like Trump talking about "blame on both sides". Start sacking! https://t.co/KbiziKzZjB

— Nejeeb Bello Oyarese (@NejeebBello) October 8, 2017

In 2017 it's hard to imagine a company of that size not questioning the ad's offensiveness prior to release. The racist ad was quickly circulated on Twitter, with many users stunned at Dove's pathetic attempt at depicting women of color. 

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