**(Please note that the pictures are for imagery purposes only. They are not directly from the Garnier commercial).
Email Sent:
Hello,
My family is a fan of your products. My daughters enjoy how your products make their hair feel. Although we use a combination of other products, we do sometimes buy the Fructis line when we can. That being said, I was very surprised by a new commercial that I saw today - on 7/15/2009, for a product that stops hair from frizzing up from moisture. The commercial begins with a Caucasian model with long straight hair. A drop of water falls on her head and then her hair turns into a large Afro. The model then screams, as a man comes over to trim her hair with hedge clippers, and the commercial then says that the product can "fix" her hair so that it is long, shiny and straight again. Although I do understand the purpose of the product, I think it was poorly illustrated in this commercial. African American woman wear Afros all the time. It is a beautiful hairstyle that does not need to be fixed. Because of this, your commercial comes off as offensive to those of us who have naturally kinky hair, and have no desire to change that part of ourselves. To see a commercial, telling the world, that your product can fix what looked to be like a beautiful Afro... just seemed wrong. I am sure that it is a great product, but I think it should have been showcased in a way that does not offend other cultures. I hope that in efforts to make commercials that appeal to everyone, that your marketing department, in the future, will stop and think about these things, before putting together new commercials.
Karen .........
________________________________________________
So that was my email to them. I will give you all a heads up if I actually receive a response. Again, I do like this company for the most part. I am just very disappointed in the way they recently chose to market a new product. I hope that they will not a lose a customer (me). And a response from them, may stop that from happening....
Karen, I really do commend you for speaking up on this. And i myself am guilty of not being vocal when i should have been when it comes to something things in the media that view our hair or features in their natural state to be shameful. This has really inspired me to speak up. I really feel that if we are all more vocal we could make a difference.
ReplyDeleteWhat was their response?
ReplyDeleteThat's a really messed up commerial for real, especially from an international company.
Peace Queen,
ReplyDeleteI am going to send a letter too! Thank you Karen for bringing this to our attention!
Good morning! Thank you for the comments ladies. Yes, please follow up if you can and write to Garnier just letting them know how they need to be more sensitive to other cultures. I have not received a response from them yet, but hopefully they will reply soon.
ReplyDeleteKaren just wanted you to know I am going to post this as well to notify my readers. If everyone will bombard them with emails and letters perhaps they will pay attention and pull this marketing campaign again!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you wrote something because I felt the exact same way when I saw the commercial. It's very problematic.
ReplyDeleteYou addressed it well, thank you.
Great email! I look forward to hearing their response to you.
ReplyDeleteI read this 2 minutes ago and just sent my email 2 seconds ago. I mean I get what they we're trying to illustrate but they could have done something much more tastefully.
ReplyDeleteThis commercial is not only offensive but it is false advestising. It is common for many women today to want straight hair, that is the current style. I was really shocked and suprised to find out that many caucasian women have hair naturally curly or frizzy. The straighter the better for many women. Its asham people just cannot be themself. This product does not work for many women. what a waist of time, just be you.
ReplyDelete