Nivea: Purity advert
Nivea also occupied the hot seat when the company posted an ad for their “Invisible for Black and White” deodorant which received backlash and racism accusations. We’ll let you decide if the public was right or not.
Their post, targeting Nivea’s Middle East customers, showed the back of a woman’s head with long, dark hair covering her white clothes and the tagline White Is Purity.” Needless to say, it was deemed misleading and racially offensive, especially after white supremacist groups started sharing it on social media. The deodorant ad was pulled shortly after, with Nivea apologizing for the error.
1 thought on “11 Advertising Campaigns That Backfired Spectacularly”
That McDonalds ad was not at all objectionable. In brief for those who haven’t seen it, a boy (maybe 10 or 11 years old) is asking his mom about his dead father. He is not bereaved, he does not even remember his father who died long ago. His mom points out a number of things in describing him. Each time, the thing about the dad is different than the son. (Sharp dresser, shiny shoes, good at sport, all the girls were attracted to him… while the boy notices his shirt untucked, his sneakers dirty, he kicks a soccer ball and flubs it, and some girls passing by only give him a look of disgust). But when they get to McD and he opens his fish sandwich box, his mom says ‘that was your dad’s favorite too’. For the first time he hears something he has in common with his late dad.
Not a thing in the world wrong with that and the people who spend all their time looking for reasons to be offended should get a life. Nobody was using bereavement to sell sandwiches.