This Nivea ad captured my interest following the caption, “White is Purity”. Although the ad was put up with the aim of promoting a new product, the slogan relays a critical message that can be understood effectively if one maintains an open mind. As portrayed in the image, the ad features a woman wearing a white clothing. In my view, the advert is landmarked by a poor choice of words because it has racist components. As far as the concept of racism is concerned, the advert can be said to be promoting the white supremacist ideology. Following a deep analysis, one may even consider the view that the advert subtly justifies the Nazi objective which is, the preservation of a pure white race is valid and justified.

In this regard, I perceive this advert as a tool that not only transmits but also promotes white supremacist ideas. It has the potential of breeding the notion that white women are modest and pure. Consequently, the advert may present white women as the norm based on the belief that they possess the ideal characteristics of a woman particularly when it comes to the sexual aspect. The advert relegates women of color, in the sense that one may believe that they have less valued or desired traits. From my point of view, the advert places the white woman in a privileged social position by associating her with certain ideological attributes: fragility, chastity, purity and standards of beauty, for instance blond silky hair and blue eyes, which in my view are represented by the blue slogan.

In the Jammed advert, I deconstructed the slogan to reflect inclusivity. I focused on getting rid of racism components that appeared in the previous slogan, “White is Purity”. In the jammed advert, I subverted the words by establishing a new slogan, “ALL are pure; white, black and others. Let’s endorse ALL”. I also replaced the previous blue color used to describe the slogan with neutral colors. With these aspects appearing in the jammed advert version, I seek to demystify the mistaken belief that skin color is a key determinant of women’s privileges. In as much as women have unique lived experiences as far as gender is concerned, their race should not be a determinant of their social position.

Therefore, I decided to replace the words “white is pure” with “ALL are pure”. The intersectionality framework is against assuming that all members of a social group share similar experiences and thus are similar. Nonetheless, I believe that it is unjustified to assume that some women should be considered more privileged by virtue of their racial background. Therefore, I aim to promote the belief that some all women are attractive, both physically and virtually, regardless of their racial background. Therefore, the message I seek to communicate is that women from the white race are not more pure than those from other races that are perceived to be inferior. I also ensured that the word ‘all’ is highlighted in upper case to place emphasis on the need to view all women as equal. The accompanying image represents women from different racial backgrounds which is an implication that all women are attractive in their own capacities. Therefore, my aim is to communicate that the exclusion of women based on their racial or ethnic background is inappropriate and unacceptable.

Link to Image

Carr, S. (2019). The top 8 most recent controversial ads. Retrieved from https://ppcprotect.com/top-controversial-ads/