Dior Called Out for Appropriation After Sharing Insensitive Campaign for New Perfume

Johnny Depp's appearance recalls a previous controversy.

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Image via Getty/Scott Barbour

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Dior has shared a campaign for its new Sauvage perfume.

The since-deleted Twitter video showed a man dressed in quintessential Native American garments and dancing in the desert. “We are the land,” the narrator said, “Dior.”

Alongside the visual, the caption read, “An authentic journey deep into the Native American soul in a sacred, founding and secular territory,” with a promise of “more to come.” The scent is slated to release on Sept. 1.

The full-length commercial stars Johnny Depp, who wanders through the desert, occasionally playing his guitar on random rock formations. Interspersed with clips of Depp is footage of the aforementioned man dancing.

Dior Sauvage Parfum, 2019 - new commercial starring Johnny Depp 🔥😍#DiorSauvage #JohnnyDepp pic.twitter.com/Stgz0zssFi

— MadDepphead (@maddepphead) August 28, 2019

Twitter users have slammed Dior for being culturally insensitive and appropriative. As some users have pointed out, Dior’s description on the site is equally racist, characterizing the perfume as having “oriental notes” and being the “fragrance of a new frontier.”

Depp's appearance in Dior's commercial recalls the controversy surrounding his role as Tonto in 2013's The Lone Ranger, which flopped.

Read some reactions to Dior’s campaign below.

My god @Dior/@LVMH...haven’t you learned anything? pic.twitter.com/7TeUskgAiF

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) August 30, 2019

SO MANY PEOPLE had to see this and approve it before it reached our eyeballs.

— Fat Val Kilmer (@TattooedBookNrd) August 30, 2019

“Sauvage”
“Oriental notes”
“A new frontier”

Were you playing racism bingo when you wrote this copy?!

— Sarah Adams (@SarahJoyAdams) August 30, 2019

This marketing blunder will be studied in business schools for a long time.

— ⚖️THEE Powerful Mel Ankoly 🇺🇦 #ForThePeople (@Mel_Ankoly) August 30, 2019

not chill pic.twitter.com/nyibGspEX0

— XAXA (@Xatuuu) August 30, 2019

pic.twitter.com/OFY2fxX6Pe

— Crystal Fincher (@finchfrii) August 30, 2019

pic.twitter.com/2eYz2uW1gI

— lizarama (@dalaimama) August 30, 2019

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