Natural hair brand Shea Moisture began releasing a series of advertisements in the past two weeks that excluded its primary consumer base, and black women were not having it.
In one of the commercials Shea has since pulled (above), four white women and one woman of color with loose curls appear between text that speaks to the struggles black women have endured for centuries; one line reads, “Break free from hair hate.” At the end of this commercial, the women all exclaim, “Everybody gets love!” after becoming content with hair they once found difficult to embrace.
Although some of the ads do include a handful of women of color, they were still in no way inclusive of all of Shea’s consumers.
After being enlightened of its misstep, Shea posted an apology to its Facebook page late Monday afternoon.
“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,” Shea Moisture’s statement read.
But despite the apology, there was no turning back for some former Shea consumers, and a natural hair product shift was already in the works.
Like you all said, y’all “f-ed this one up.”
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