Search Style Sheets: Your Photos, Your Looks

• Follow on Google Plus
• Follow on Pinterest
• Follow @sportsgrid
• Like us on Facebook

• Anonymous

  Oo. That “before” and “after” is pretty stark. It’s surprising that it made it past all the people who would have to approve it, as the author points out. One would hope that they employ women of color in decision-making positions at Dove and the ad agency. But maybe not, or maybe they spoke up and got overruled. 

  I’ve got brown skin and will resist dry ashiness to the end of my days, but it’s not like I need Dove to do it. 

• Ally

  Clearly Dove did not intentionally mean for the ad to be as it appeared but seriously how clueless are the Dove executives and the advertising agency who let it run to not pick up on it earlier….Dove = Dumb

• Williams1491

  Has everyone lost their minds!!! This product moisurizes your skin, it does not lighten it. What I see are three lovely women all with glowing moist skin, I am sure, as a result of using this product. I use this product on a regular basis. It makes my skin so moist soft, and smooth that I sometimes find myself feeling my own self up. My skin feels like satin, and I used to be so dry I had gone to the doctor to see why my skin was itching. He told me it was just very dry skin. Over the years I have tried many products but nothing as good as this one. I bought a bottle one day just because I like Dove products. At the time I was using their hair line, and loved what it did for my hair, which was also very dry. I noticed a difference right away which got better each day. Dove, stick to your guns! Your ads are beautiful, and most of all they are true. There are all kinds of fools out here in the world looking for things to be upset about, and you can bet your last money, they will find them. If you had put the black girl on the other side, since we tend to look at things from left to right, there would have been the question of, “Why does the black girl have to be last in line”. Oh Please, I don’t care what you do you can’t please people who wont be pleased. I repeat, This is an ad about dry skin America. I love you Dove. Oh, FYI, I am a brown skinned black woman! Justin, it’s your brain that’s cringe worthy

• Williams1491

  Listen, ADPS, stop being simple minded. If you have dry ashy skin, yes you do need Dove, and you would be a fool not to try a product this good over some nonsense. If you have a problem with this ad, then this ad is not your problem. Your issues go far beyond anything that we can address here. Seek Help! I am also a black woman.

• Anonymous

  Wow, that’s quite a paragraph.

  Anyway- If you’re into data and rigorous scientific research– or even if you’re not!– check out the Safe Cosmetics Database for better-for-you products: http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ Tons of great information that can help us all avoid toxics in personal care products.

• MIZZVELEZ83

  I DON’T BELIEVE THAT THIS AD IS BEING RACIST AT ALL. I BELIEVE THAT THE PERSON OR PEOPLE THAT SAW THE COMMERCIAL HAD THEIR PANTIES IN A BUNCH BECAUSE THE PRODUCT DOES NOT WORK FOR THEM. MY FAMILY HAS BEEN BATHING THEIR CHILDREN WITH DOVE SOAP FOR YEARS SINCE THEY WERE NEWBORNS BECAUSE IT KEEPS THE MOISTURE IN THEIR SKIN AND NEWBORNS DON’T DO WELL WITH DRY SKIN. I’VE BEEN USING DOVE ON MY DAUGTER SINCE SHE WAS A BABY AND HER SKIN STAYS BEAUTIFULLY SMOOTH AND MOISTURIZED AND SHE’S NEVER ITCHY, SHE’S MIXED AND I USE THE SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER AND HER HAIR IS EASY TO MANAGE BECAUSE IT’S NATURALLY CURLY. I ALSO USE IT AND RECENTLY GOT HER FATHER TO USE DOVE SOAP AND HE HAS THE DRYEST SKIN EVER, NOW HE LOVES IT AND IT’S THE ONLY SOAP HE WANTS TO USE. DOVE FANS UNITE!!!!

• MIZZVELEZ83

  I AGREE WITH YOU.. WHEN I WAS PREGNANT WITH MY DAUGHTER MY SKIN FELT LIKE IT WAS GONNA CRACK!!! OH GOD!!! IT TAKES ONE IDIOT THAT’S BLACK LIKE US TO AUTOMATICALLY ASSUME THAT SOMEBODY IS TRYING TO CHANGE US. I’M GONNA KEEP ON USING DOVE LIKE I BEEN DOING!!

• Candee

  I too am a brown skinned black woman and I also questioned this ad.  Obviously different people are going to perceive things differently.  I am so very sure that the educated people in Dove’s marketing department have had training on how the public’s perceptions.  With that being said, there had to be at least one person that though maybe this ad wouldn’t sit well with SOME black women.  If that was the case, why release it?  It’s not fair to discredit people’s opinions when there is some validity behind them.  I don’t agree with your statement that people would have objected if the black woman was the “last person in line.” That would just be silly.  Let’s be real.

• Aol3232

  WHAT?!? Look at the ad again! The before and after patches are separate from the lineup of women.  They simply show how the skin will transition after using the product.  The three women standing in front of it are all AFTER examples of using the product! Take a second look…

• Daddysgirl8792

  The position of all three women is what makes the ad seem so racist. What they should have done was placed all three women with cracked skin under the “before”‘ side and then placed them all with clear skin on the after side. The fact that the black girl is under before and the white girl is under after, makes the photo clearly racist or whatever you want to call it. Like the previous posts said, I’m sure there was someone who thought there was something wrong with the post and just probably got over ruled.

• Guest

  The illustration above the three women does NOT show the “after” skin being lighter, in fact if anything it is darker because the cracks in the skin in the “before” picture highlighted the lightness of the skin! Are you blind ? I suspect, rather, that you’re hunting for racism and screaming bloody murder when you think you found some!

• Star56burst

  They are models you idiots!! So what some of them aren’t black as tar. All White have different skin tones. I don’t see any “caspers” on there either.

• Ladf1

  I contend that Dove is representing me as a black woman and that my skin started out darker until I used Dove. How dare you insinuate that I am black.  I am blonde and blue-eyed with light skin, and yes I am Caucasian.  You asses, there are three beautiful women in that ad, and their skin color is of little importance. 
  It is people like you, Justin Fenner, that promotes friction and trouble between the races.  Get the chip off your shoulder and do something worthy for mankind.

• Greeneyedgoddes

  the ad means it works for all skin types.  you dumbies who read into crap just to cry racist

• Yiagreek1

  much ado about nothing!…papougreek

• Horvat

  Only a racist would see this ad as racist.

• J. Grant

  It’s time for a new word” Fennerism – to describe someone who is so pathologically insecure racially that he attacks those barbaric slave traders Nivea and Dove. One can only wonder what Justin Fenner would be doing today and where would he be of those nasty people that created space travel and his car, air conditioner, dental and medical services, TV, planesm computers phones etc etc etc etc never existed?  Attacking a banana with his teeth?

• Lazy_L

  I see absolutely nothing wrong with this add.  I’ve found these days, people are just LOOKING for something to claim ‘racist’.  Rediculous!  The ‘Before’ and ‘After’ is obviously referring to the pictures of dry skin and then, smoother skin.  Wake up you sick people!  Get a life and stop with all this RACIST b.s!  I am so sick of it!

• Acesdoubled

  The person who wrote this article is a moron.  There are 3 beautiful women in the picture.  All of them have beautiful skin because they use Dove.  The before and after picture in the background has nothing to do with race.  It has to do with what dove can do for your skin regardless of your skin tone.  Anyone who sees this as a racist add is just looking for any reason to be offended. Grow up.

• Vikkiincolorado

  Really?? Are you kidding me??  Who’s the idiot that called foul on this ad!!  I’ve had absolutely enough of people like you and I’m pretty sure the majority of the world has; as well!!! Just one excuse after another to cry racism!! Give it up!!!

• Buford

  only a blatant moron would say that ad is racist…..HOLY CRAP! They make a dang effort to include women of several races, then get blasted for it….i hope they replace it with an ad featuring three white women.

• http://www.facebook.com/jespurp jessica elizalde

  again you are looking too much into it. dove supports all skin types and woman regardless of race. the after is just the skin being healed. AND doesnt anyone remember that dove also sells lotion that gradually tans you! not that i should have to even mention that. this ad is perfectly fine. 
  -dove user

• Baretta915

  Reverse racism abounds. Time to get over it. This ad is FAR from racist.

• Gnosis

  People upset about this ad are just looking for a reason to be upset. The ad presents the public with 3 different women, obviously meaning that the product works for all of those skin types.
  Then, just behind, you have 2 HUGE panels; one cracked and one smooth with the words “before” on the cracked one and the word “after” on the smooth one. Put your thinking cap on people, to see if anyone can possibly figure out what they mean by this. Yes, very hard to figure out, right?. If you can’t understand an ad as simple as this one and interpret it as racist, then maybe you should leave your sensitivities and complexes in your house before you leave it. If the order had been reversed (white woman first and african-american last) do you think there would have been an issue with white women protesting that they feel offended because Dove would turn them darker?  C’mon people. Really? Aren’t there more important things to protest about?

• Ron Groskreutz

  People need to grow the heck up.  Does it really matter if the women were lighter from left to right or right to left?  I don’t think that was their intent at all, I think they intentionally put three women of various races in the add because they were trying not to be racist.  The author and some of the people writing comments seem to have a problem with the black woman being heavier.  So it is not okay to have the black woman heavier, but it would have been to have the white or hispanic woman heavier?  Does it really matter?  Aren’t we supposed to over look a persons color and size both?  So aren’t those factors supposed to be inconsequential?  Let’s quit already. 

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WMEMWZV2CB6O2ITJIDM7PD37QQ Back2skewl

  this is nothing but a pathetic attempt of the writer to be racist, there is nothing racist about the commercial at all. After reading most of the comments in here everyone agrees. So in the end he is just a loser for trying to make something out of nothing. LMAO!!

• getoveryourself

  So why does the black woman participate if it’s racist? Maybe she’s a racist? Against her own race? An Uncle Tom? But that would be gender discrimination on top of racism.

• Ainzsayhello

  I think people are just seeing it that way. I dont think that dove noticed that it would offend anyone. Because I see three different women and it says that dove works for everyone. Maybe thats just becauase I didnt look that far into it.

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Emmit-Penny/100002316602249 Emmit Penny

  That is just too funny. What white woman would think that if they used a soap they’d turn Black. Duh? None! So what makes the people who band the ad think that a black woman using the soap would use it to turn White. This is the moment for the Question: A Sphincter says What? Exactly.

• wooster182

  If you’re looking for it, you’re going to see it as racist. It probably would have been a better idea to put the Caucasian woman in the middle, but I see an ad that’s trying to be racially equal, covering as many races they can without being extremely obvious. It’s actually almost too-PC in my opinion.

• Runyon847

  …but every woman DOES want to be blonde and have fair skin, don’t they? Ever notice how so many Blacks themselves prefer the company of lighter skinned colored people?

• Harry369

  WTF really. Is everything racist? Oh wait; I forgot my white
  male privilege.

• Cpl2

  why does the black woman have to be first in line?
  politikally korekt krap

• MadisonAvenueWest

  Subconsciously implies darker to lighter, a few clueless Faux Newz watchers can’t see it but can we really expect them to see it? Fifteen years in advertising on Madison Avenue makes me think it wasn’t intentional. Bringing attention to it addresses young people who are still rather impressionable; adults that don’t get it probably never will. Get a psych degree then go to work in advertising and see how stereotyping and subliminal messaging works. Often we just use simple before/after frown/smile tricks but more often we direct our message to the subconscious. Doesn’t always work the way we want it to work. The human brain is a complicated organ and it isn’t always possible to predict consumer reaction to some of our ads; hence, I don’t believe Dove intended to subconcsciously suggest lighter skin is better than darker.

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Melissa-Cartun/662259376 Melissa Cartun

  I don’t see how it’s racist. If you think the “after” is lighter you need to re-evaluate whether your perceptions are based on actual sensory information or on your expectations.

• Guest

  …have you never heard of socialization? A preference toward lighter skin has existed in countless societies through out history, and it’s believed that it came about because upper class people stayed in and got pale while lower class people worked and got tanned. It’s not some kind of natural impulse, it’s a trend that’s been encouraged by all kinds of prejudice. And there is no one thing that “every woman” wants to look like.

  Also, I accidentally pressed the like button on your comment, and there is sadly no dislike button.

• C_ann_kennedy

  I guess I must be totally ignorant, because I don’t understand the hype over this ad. I see it as saying the product works on all skin types. I think people are just looking to find something to say that black people or white people are being discriminated against. Explain to me how being first or last says my race is better? I just don’t get it???

• NorCalGirl

  call me dense but I don’t get it…?  what is racist about showing 3 beautiful women of varying skin tones with a patch above showing dry skin and moisturized skin?   I had to keep looking at it to see what I was missing, like one of those hidden object pictures.  wow…people are way to sensitive nowadays. 

• Patmar

  Whining ass motherfuckers!!!!!!

• Truthsojourner

  subliminal means your conscous mind dont see it ,but your subconscous minds is being trained with a stereotype ,if it see it often enough ,it must be true.dont feel bad because you dont see it ,dove didnt see it because they are already trained.

• J. Grant

  A race that has invented, innovated, realized and implemented those inventions, i.e. created the civilization we all live in cannot be said to be “priviliged”. If you create and build and devise how to run it and create further progress with every year, that civlization belongs to you. The word “privilige” implies it was handed to whites. What you are spewing is a standard issue liberal pathology, a product (or maybe more of a secretion) of self-hating whites implanted in this country mainly by Franz Boaz (look it up) a Jewish anthropologuist with a mission to weaken the white hegemony in their own land because he felt his people would be safer as a result. This ideological agenda dates back to the early part of the 20th century when it was spread to the anthropology departments of univerisities across the country (USA).

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Craig-Vale/100001402233899 Craig Vale

  Seems to appeal to women with low self esteem and no sense of worth in that happiness is only to be found if somehow you can ” lighten” yourself up and hence be more appealing. Many South American woman and Brazilians in particular buy into this crap fantasy and spend billions trying to be something they don’t need to be. Kinda’ sad .

• Earthdaughter1

  1st: Patmar? Unbelievable comment!
  2nd: Truthsojourner: Exactly!! What is amazing to me is how the majority of the posters are so clueless to how ads work and so well trained to buy it–that they don’t get how they are manipulated.
  3rd: I personally don’t need to get my panties in a twist to find it at least interesting how Dove set the picture up with the black woman standing under the sign that says Before and the white woman under the sign that says After.  As a white woman, I find that interesting and it just brings up the question, what was the motive for the arrangement and why wasn’t the white girl under the Before sign? Are the Ad execs at Dove so well trained that this placement was a completely unconscious result of a seemingly pervasive (above postings) mindset?

• Earthdaughter1

  ADPS: Agreed. Call me simple minded if it makes you feel better, Black woman named William, but I find it at least interesting how Dove set the picture up with the black woman clearly standing under the sign that says BEFORE and the white woman under the sign that says AFTER.  As a white woman, I find that very interesting and it just brings up the question: Are the Ad execs at Dove so clueless that this placement was a completely unconscious result of a seemingly pervasive (postings below) and similarly unconscious mindset? And no, I don’t think they are trying to say–”Use Dove and you’ll get lighter”, but the implication is that the AFTER picture is to be prefered over the BEFORE picture and who is standing under the BEFORE pix?  Just Sayin’.

• really???

  the before and after sign are above dry skin and hydrated skin. people are making something out of nothing.

• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1621851766 Dawn Martin

  Earthdaugter – Her name is “Williams” so it is probably her LAST name.  Anyone with a brain can see that the before and after photos are for the two swatches of skin (one dry and one moisturized) NOT for the women standing below the swatches.

• Jerogl

  Lmao. FAIL!

• Kamisgod

  So if they put the white girl under “before” and the black girl under “after” that would also be racist right??? RIGHT??? You guys are fucking idiots. Seriously. The people that see ANY racism in this add are actually the ones who are racist (or just trying to hard to get butthurt about anything they can). The EVOLVED and MATURE people here didn’t even notice what you are talking about…they just saw THREE WOMEN in front of the swatches. YOU FUCKHEADS brought colour into this. Says more about you than ANYONE else. Dumbasses.

• Kamisgod

  Wow. The very fact you actually bothered to learn this is hilarious to me. Someone have insecurities about being white? Possibly some hatred for people of colour? Yeah. I think you do. And to top it you sound like a nut job. Haha.

• Kamisgod

  You sir, are an idiot, and your grammar is atrocious. Let me get this straight: you are telling us it’s “ok” if we don’t perceive something as racist, because in actual fact it really is racist, but just subliminal? Condescending much? You have also structured a TERRIBLE argument. You can’t just claim “oh you don’t see any problem because the problem is SUBLIMINAL”. No sir, the problem is people like YOU being allowed to breed. 

• Kamisgod

  Ok then, moron, please explain how “these things” work. Oh go on, I can’t WAIT to hear about how after I see ONE too many of these dove posters, I’ll join the KKK and start lynching black people! And to think, after ALL these years, I though It was the way I was raised, education, understanding, and socializing that made me who I am today; but no, it’s advertising that makes me what I am! Wow, thanks for clearing this one up for me, asshole.  You dumb fucks DO realize that subliminal advertising DOESN’T work right? There has never been any evidence to support the idea that you can influence idea or behaviors through this means. Now go play with traffic. 

• Martin Frisconelli

  This is complete nonsense. The only people who will find racism in this are the people that find racism in everything. The three women are obviously designed to appeal to various ethnicities, not to illustrate that a black woman will suddenly become white if she uses Dove. People are so stupid sometimes!

• Belgiumcach

  well, it may be subconscious, but it may also have been meant to show that ALL RACES of women (shown by 3) can go from dry to moist, and not that it’s implying one goes from darker to lighter.  Also, the patches above actually go to darker, don’t they?  LOL

• Stevengrimm

  This is probably the most irresponsible and idiotic articles I’ve read in a long time. Obviously, the author should take some time to reflect on why he has such a desperate need to find racism. But hey, if you stare at clouds long enough, I’m sure you’ll eventually find what you’re looking for.

• Eckseton

  I can’t believe all the malarkey people are spouting here.  Seriously.  You won’t find anything racist here unless you you are out to look for it and do some construing to find it.  In fact, my personal opinion is the black woman is in the most flattering position in the whole ad.  By placing her in front of the dry cracked ‘before’ skin, she’s an ‘after’ statement all by herself!  Her dark skin just glows… she’s beautiful and she dominates the ad.  The others look washed out next to her.  If she switched positions with either of the other girls, the effect would no be nearly so striking.

• Delsig314

  If the black woman was placed last (on right), the ad would be racist for placing her there. If she was in the middle, someone might claim she had to be placed there so as to minimize her blackness between lighter skinned women. I would say “lighten up,” but that too has racist implications ;-). Also, why are the towels white, what are they “whitewashing”? This type of knee-jerk reaction (a-ha, we uncovered a devious racist plot to sell skin care products!) is not surprising, but unfortunate. c’est la vie.

• http://www.christianlouboutinatus.com/ Christian Louboutin

  Thank you for your blog, he
  let me know that many little knowledge, I will put it share to my friends

• http://www.louboutindiscountshoe.com/ Coach Outlet

  This article is worth people
  thinking about people watching, very pleased to meet you here! Thank you for
  sharing this with us win a good article!

• D Nor

  I “cleaned up” Dove’s advertising with Color Splash+ Fx http://deracifying-ads.tumblr.com/post/39595917550/it-seems-like-dove-had-a-few-things-to-say-about

• hjhjkjhjhk

  I definitely did not interpret it that way. What I see is three women standing in front of two posters. One poster shows moisturized skin, the other shows dry skin. The three women are racially differing. No connection. They have to line the models up in some order. I saw absolutely no connection between the order they were in, and the skin quality. I think their position was meant to be separate from the before and after pictures behind them. They all have beautiful skin and bodies. Everyone has different interpretations, but I think the argument that this is intended to be racist is just trying to read between lines that aren’t there.