![thedailywhat:
That’s Racist? of the Day: Is this Nivea ad racist? Good’s associate editor Nona Willis Aronowitz thinks so.
Noting that none of the other ads in Nivea’s “look like you give a damn” campaign sport the tagline “re-civilize yourself,” Aronowitz says: “The message couldn’t be clearer: natural hair on a black man isn’t a style preference or a nod to afrocentrism—it’s straight-up uncivilized.”
Roots drummer Questlove took the ad more personally, accusing Nivea of targeting him directly. “Lotion with a 38 yr old atlanta strippers name really wants my head off,” Questo tweeted. “uncivilized?”
He then took to Facebook to elaborate:
as a dude who uses alot of provocative imaging on his album covers. i got thick skin for shock art. but this Nivea ad is slowly making me angry. Lesson is: i (and people that look like “me”) do not look civilized. thing is im certain the creators of this ad weren’t even thinking about the bigger message they were sending out.
What say you?
[good / clutch.]
I say that it has nothing to do with race and everything to do with grooming standards. Artists aren’t allowed to weigh in on this because they don’t really count when having conversations about grooming standards in the working world. There aren’t a lot of offices where anyone can have really long hair or facial hair without proving some sort of exemption from such a policy because of a sincerely held religious belief.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lq4xx8OVhK1qzpwi0o1_500.jpg)
That’s Racist? of the Day: Is this Nivea ad racist? Good’s associate editor Nona Willis Aronowitz thinks so.
Noting that none of the other ads in Nivea’s “look like you give a damn” campaign sport the tagline “re-civilize yourself,” Aronowitz says: “The message couldn’t be clearer: natural hair on a black man isn’t a style preference or a nod to afrocentrism—it’s straight-up uncivilized.”
Roots drummer Questlove took the ad more personally, accusing Nivea of targeting him directly. “Lotion with a 38 yr old atlanta strippers name really wants my head off,” Questo tweeted. “uncivilized?”
He then took to Facebook to elaborate:
as a dude who uses alot of provocative imaging on his album covers. i got thick skin for shock art. but this Nivea ad is slowly making me angry. Lesson is: i (and people that look like “me”) do not look civilized. thing is im certain the creators of this ad weren’t even thinking about the bigger message they were sending out.
What say you?
I say that it has nothing to do with race and everything to do with grooming standards. Artists aren’t allowed to weigh in on this because they don’t really count when having conversations about grooming standards in the working world. There aren’t a lot of offices where anyone can have really long hair or facial hair without proving some sort of exemption from such a policy because of a sincerely held religious belief.
