Company Faces Backlash for Ad

Pepsi and United Airlines have company in the dog house.

Shea Moisture, a hair and skin care company founded in Harlem in 1991 for black women’s needs, is facing backlash after releasing its newest ad depicting three women — a black woman, and two white women, one blonde and one redhead — talking about embracing their “natural” hair.

In the 60-second ad, the black woman talks about being bullied as a child for her natural, voluminous curls, while the other women discuss hating their sometimes limp locks and unusual hair color. “Break free from hair hate,” touts the ad.

SheaMoisture is CANCELLED T4Dru1JgAq
— NANA JIBRIL (@girlswithtoys) April 24, 2017

Many of Shea’s loyal customers, however, are unhappy with the brand’s comparison of embracing red hair to embracing natural black texture. Several studies conducted in the U.S. have found that black women who wear their natural texture, or who wear their hair in a traditional African-American styles like dreads, braids or cornrows, are seen as less competent than their peers who chemically straighten their hair or opt for weaves. The consequences for African-American women who choose to embrace their natural texture have, historically, been more severe than white women who choose to “embrace” their red hair.

Several customers have criticized the company for “gentrifying” the issue of natural hair in an attempt to woo new, white users. “I get Shea Moisture wanting to get that crossover coin, BUT a black woman going natural isn’t the same as embracing your hair,” wrote one woman on Twitter. Others posted photos of Rachel Dolezal, the infamous white woman who posed as African-American and became the president of the Spokane, Wash. chapter of the NAACP.

Black women built SheaMoisture. And not the “I was teased for having good hair” Black women. Black women will take it right on down too.
— Kimberly N. Foster (@KimberlyNFoster) April 24, 2017

I get Shea Moisture wanting to get that crossover coin, BUT a black woman going natural isn’t the same as embracing your red hair.
— E.Nicole (@erikastruth) April 24, 2017

“More Shea Moisture products for me!”
— ?????? (@callmedollar) April 24, 2017

Shortly after the ad was ransacked on the Internet, Shea Moisture issued an apology. “Wow — we really f—ed this one up!” reads the statement posted to Twitter. “Please know that our intent was not, and would never be, to disrespect our community.” A more extensive apology was posted to Instagram, in which the brand states, “We are keenly aware of the journey that WOC face – and our work will continue to serve as the inspiration for work like the Perception Institute’s Good Hair Study/Implicit Association Test that suggests that a majority of people, regardless of race and gender, hold some bias towards women of color based on their textured or natural hair. So, you’re right. We are different – and we should know better.”

Wow – we really f-ed this one up! Please know that our intent was not, & would never be, to disrespect our community
— SheaMoisture (@SheaMoisture) April 24, 2017

Other customers, however, came to Shea Moisture’s defense.

I don’t see how the Shea moisture commercial bad. It’s talking about hair shaming and all that shit y’all tweet about.
— blue gap hoodie (@LiuKangKicks) April 24, 2017

Still using my shea Moisture products. Y’all will be mad at someone else next week anyway
— Charolyn S (@CharoLeFleur1) April 24, 2017

Almost one year ago, Shea Moisture was enjoying praise for its #BreaktheWalls ad campaign, which questioned the placement of beauty products for African-American women on an “ethnic” aisle in drug stores, while products for white women were aggregated in the “beauty” aisle.

Thanks to companies like Shea Moisture as well as celebrities like Halle Berry, Amandla Stenberg and Yara Shahidi, who have been rocking their natural texture on red carpets, natural hair styles have been on the rise. Sales of relaxers have declined 26 percent since 2008, and earlier this year, Pantene announced a hair care series specifically for black hair.

Time will tell how long it will take for the company to bounce back from the offending ad. So far, it appears that PR blunders are the most consistent trend of 2017.

Wow, okay – so guys, listen, we really f-ed this one up. Please know that our intention was not – and would never be – to disrespect our community, and as such, we are pulling this piece immediately because it does not represent what we intended to communicate. You guys know that we have always stood for inclusion in beauty and have always fought for our community and given them credit for not just building our business but for shifting the beauty landscape. So, the feedback we are seeing here brings to light a very important point. While this campaign included several different videos showing different ethnicities and hair types to demonstrate the breadth and depth of each individual’s hair journey, we must absolutely ensure moving forward that our community is well-represented in each one so that the women who have led this movement never feel that their hair journey is minimized in any way. We are keenly aware of the journey that WOC face – and our work will continue to serve as the inspiration for work like the Perception Institute’s Good Hair Study/Implicit Association Test that suggests that a majority of people, regardless of race and gender, hold some bias towards women of color based on their textured or natural hair. So, you’re right. We are different – and we should know better. Thank you all, as always, for the honest and candid feedback. We hear you. We’re listening. We appreciate you. We count on you. And we’re always here for you. Thank you, #SheaFam, for being there for us, even when we make mistakes. Here’s to growing and building together…
A post shared by SheaMoisture (@sheamoisture) on Apr 24, 2017 at 2:11pm PDT