"I Will Not Be Erased": The Woman from the 'Racist Dove Ad' Says It's Not Racist at All

Dove, a soap brand, found itself at the center of yet another firestorm this week.

How is it that a company that probably spends most of its day evaluating the appropriate level of lather could enrage mass throngs, you ask?

Well…

A questionable—and, we’ll say it: problematic—Dove ad promoting a new body wash caught the eye of some Facebook users. In it, a black woman removes her top to reveal a white woman underneath.

The ad continues to show the white woman removing her top to reveal a Latinx woman. However, there is a long, unfortunate history of a soap brands advertising their ability to wash black people white. And no matter the brand’s intentions, it was hard not to see the ad as a continuation of that cultural erasure.

I cannot conceive of how anyone at Dove thought this ad was acceptable. This is literally how Victorian soap was advertised by Unilever... pic.twitter.com/m9HH7BVXts

— Hannah Rose Woods (@hannahrosewoods) October 8, 2017

However, model Lola Ogunyemi has challenged the internet’s interpretation of the ad, saying, as the black woman who turns white, she has become the "unwitting poster child for racist advertising".

In an op-ed for The Guardian, Ogunyemi argued that Dove was actually challenging racist stereotypes by involving diverse women.

"Having the opportunity to represent my dark-skinned sisters in a global beauty brand felt like the perfect way for me to remind the world that we are here, we are beautiful, and more importantly, we are valued," she wrote.

"If I had even the slightest inclination that I would be portrayed as inferior, or as the ‘before’ in a before and after shot, I would have been the first to say an emphatic ‘no’. I would have (un)happily walked right off set and out of the door. That is something that goes against everything I stand for."

However, Ogunyemi insisted that the Dove concept was “to use our differences to highlight the fact that all skin deserves gentleness."

"While I agree with Dove’s response to unequivocally apologise for any offense caused, they could have also defended their creative vision, and their choice to include me, an unequivocally dark-skinned black woman, as a face of their campaign," she concluded.

"I am not just some silent victim of a mistaken beauty campaign. I am strong, I am beautiful, and I will not be erased."

You can read her full defence of the ad, as well as the circumstances leading up to the shoot, here.

Photo: Twitter.com/@NayTheMua