The Shea Moisture company is apologizing again to their black consumers. The company irked black customers when they aired an ad featuring white women. This isn’t first time the company has been mired in controversy.
In 2015, Shea Moisture nearly incited a riot on social media when they used a Caucasian baby in a social media post.
Customers also accused the company of changing the formula of certain products to favor Caucasian and biracial hair.
In the new ad titled “Hair Hate”, a biracial woman is featured along with several Caucasian women.
Some customers called out Shea Moisture for gradually phasing out products meant for black hair as more black consumers turned to hair weave extensions and lacefront wigs.
In the latest apology, issued on April 24, the company expressed disappointment in themselves for not doing a better job to retain their faithful black customers.
In a lengthy Facebook.com post, SheaMoisture wrote:
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.
But fed up customers apparently have had enough.
“Keep your apologies,” one user wrote. “You intended to cut out a major portion of your customer base, and now you’ll feel it.”
Another former customer wrote:
“Are you just apologizing for the ad or are you apologizing for changing your formula as well? I really hope that you gain that market that you were looking for because I know you have lost me and a big chunk of women like me who once supported you.”
And this consumer was skeptical of the apology and the editing process:
“This video made it through all kinds of editors and processes etc and not ONE person saw anything wrong with it ? Wow…Forget the video , perhaps you should look at whomever is making all the decisions. #herewegoagain”
Thanks to loyal reader dontgetblocked for the tip.
