At first glance, when I saw this advertisement, I was a bit surprised about one of their advertisements being racist. From many of the dove ads I have seen, they get many cultures to advertise about a new product. From my perspective, when you first see the advertisement you think of one point that comes straight out of your head and you use that point to convey your opinion of what the message is. When I first saw this ad I thought it was racist as well and I agreed with many people who say that as well. However when I read the articles I realized and understood the message Dove was trying to send out. The point of the advertisement was not meant to be racist, but to show off many cultures. Lola Ogunyemi says that as well, she didn't see the advertisement as racist or Dove putting out a racial message. She thought of the ad as when they take off the shirts they reveal another culture and another to convey that many cultures use dove. In my opinion Dove made a flaw with putting Lola first then the white woman next. Maybe if they switched the order around then many people won't find it racist. In society many people see many races that are not caucasian to be picked on the most. Maybe next time Dove decides to make another advertisement with many cultures they will alter the ad to not look as racist. One of the articles says that Dove did a racist ad before this. The ad is that a black woman is at a before sign and a white woman is at a after sign. This ad has brought negative reputation to the company. This ad that was made years before may have given off the idea that Dove was doing another racist ad because they did it in the past and they will most likely do it again. As a thought, if Lola did not reply to the criticism in the media and give a response many people would still see it as a racist ad to this day. What I'm trying to say is that when one person says one thing, majority would believe that one thing too. However the majority has not seen the story from another persons perspective, mainly the people involved. Overall, if Lola's response was given before the media this Dove Ad would not be deemed racist.
Overall, in my opinion this advertisement was never meant to have any racial meaning to it. Many people just believe it is racist because of what the majority of people say. Always look at other peoples perspective of things before making a conclusion on an opinion. Maybe Dove will be more gentle about advertising after seeing the responses.
