Chose Advertisement / Commercial

Chosen Advertisement /Commercial

Nivea's Advertisement: "Recivilize Yourself"

After having a discussion with the group members, we decided to work on Nivea's advertisement in promoting their campaign for face and body shave products for men.

Nivea’s “Recivilise Yourself” Campaign (2012) Unknown. Available at: < http://blog.ebuzzing.co.uk/article-social-media-buzz-22-08-11-86282662.html> [Accessed 28th October 2012]

Based from the pictures above, the one on the left depicts a stereotypical way of referring to the good old "Afro" hairstyle of African American men indicating that the look is savage and uncivilised. The same saying goes for the picture on the right, which refers to the long and unkempt hairstyle of White Americans.

However, these two ads are also considered to be racist, not to mention offensive, especially towards both parties. The term of"Re-Civilize Yourself" clearly defines changing your personal appearance. But with the promotional posters of both men getting ready to throw headless mannequins which represents "throwing away" the style of their old, uncivilized selves? One would have to agree that it isn't surprising that this ad had managed to enrage and provoked many from across the globe.

Nivea's states that "Look Like You Give a Damn"; though it seems that they haven't given much thought and consideration of the sensitive topics that may arise before releasing the ad to public.

(Reference Citing: 

• Yahoo! News,2011. Nivea pulls ‘offensive’ ad [online] (Updated 19th August 2011) Available at: < http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/nivea-pulls-offensive-ad-185220424.html> [Accessed 28th October 2012]
• Adwoa. (2011). Racist allegations on Social Media lead Nivea to pull ad. [online] 22nd August 2011. Available at: < http://blog.ebuzzing.co.uk/article-social-media-buzz-22-08-11-86282662.html> [Accessed 28th October 2012]
• News Desk,2011. Nivea apologizes for racist ‘re-civilize yourself’ ad campaign. [online] (Updated August 2011) Available at: <http://truthdive.com/2011/08/21/Nivea-apologizes-for-racist-re-civilize-yourself-ad-campaign.html> [Accessed 28th October 2012]
• Justin Fenner (2011). Unapologetically Racist Nivea Ad Seeks To ‘Re-Civilize’ Black Men. [online] 18th August 2011. Available at: <http://www.styleite.com/media/racist-nivea-ad/> [Accessed 28th October 2012]
• Jennifer Van Grove (2011). Nivea Pulls “Re-civilized” Ad Following Social Media Backlash. [online] 18th August 2011. Available at: <http://mashable.com/2011/08/18/nivea-reciviiize-ad/> [Accessed 28th October 2012] )

-FY-