Nivea embroiled in racism row in Africa over appalling advert

First it was dove with the racist advert, now it's Nivea who is embroiled in a race row after it rolled out an “appalling” moisturiser advert that promises ‘visibly lighter skin’ for black women.

The beauty brand is advertising its new Natural Fairness moisturiser to women living in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Senegal.

Nivea, which is owned by German skin care company Beiersdorf Global AG, has also produced a TV advert for the 'offensive' product that show a black model’s skin becoming lighter after she applies the cream.

The print adverts show former Miss Nigeria Omowunmi Akinnifesi with the words 'For visibly fairer skin' written across her body, while the TV commercial sees the model's skin lighting up and becoming whiter as she happily applies the cream

People have taken to social media to express their outrage and disgust that they should want “fairer” skin, with many using the hashtag #PULLITDOWN to demand the removal of the adverts.

Dear @niveauk @NIVEAUSA and all other #Nivea out there... This is not how to market in Africa. We didn't want 'FAIRER SKIN' thank you. pic.twitter.com/qBtYvfLNpA

— Folaranmi 👼 (@TheFavoredWoman) October 18, 2017

#Nivea please we don't need to be fairer to look younger or prettier. Take your beauty standards and 🕳️. pic.twitter.com/vEbBZyFcIK

— Naa Oyoo Kumodzi (@OyooQuartey) October 18, 2017

@NIVEAUSA @niveauk please remove this billboard you're putting up all over Ghana (and I'm pretty sure all over the continent) #nivea pic.twitter.com/cGFQdHP3eg

— Mark Osaro (@mny_mrk) October 18, 2017

First it was a racist ad by @Dove and now it's @Nivea? come on, whats the issue with having a lighter skin?

— olomoinfo (@Aisapaul) October 19, 2017

London entrepreneur William Adoasi also slammed the TV commercial sharing a clip of it online, he wrote:

This is why black businesses need to rise up and cater for our needs. Nivea can’t get away with pushing this skin lightening agenda across Africa. Appalling. pic.twitter.com/8uR7XHNgVa

— William Adoasi (@WilliamAdoasi) October 18, 2017

Fuse ODG, a British hip hop artist of Ghanaian descent, has also slammed the Nivea campaign.
On his Instagram feed, he posted an image of the ad, writing:

Kindly take down these billboards you have placed all over our beloved countries in Africa.

I saw this one with my own eyes today in Ghana and we love our complexion the way it is. And if you don’t take these down. We will.

Every African everywhere should stop buying any Nivea product. Tag the Nivea branch from your country so they understand how foolish this is!

For those of u claiming the word "fairer" mean beautiful
TakeDown ya SelfHate billboards in Africa. #BlackIsBeautiful
@Nivea_UK @NiveaUSA pic.twitter.com/zclNxARveE

— Fuse ODG (@FuseODG) October 18, 2017

The advert comes just one week after Dove was forced to apologise after an advert appeared to show a black woman turn white after washing with its products.

The beauty brand acknowledged it had “missed the mark” after the Facebook ad sparked a backlash that saw the company accused of racism.

The advert showed a black woman removing a T-shirt revealing a white woman underneath. The white woman then removes her T-shirt to reveal an Asian woman.

Hundreds of furious social media users have called for a boycott of Dove products calling the ad “disgraceful”.

This story first appeared in The Sun.