Where on one side of the world we see the LTBTQ community finally getting the much-deserved acceptance and respect after much delay, on the other side some incidents just prove that hypocrisy still exists.
Global cosmetic giant Nivea is facing backlash yet again on social media after one of its executives told its long time ad agency Foote, Cone & Belding that it doesn’t “do gay”.
It so happened that the ad agency representative who had pitched a commercial for the brand which was to show two men touching hands was turned down by an executive from the global beauty brand saying “We don’t do gay at Nivea”.
The controversy sparked after the details of the phone call were release followed by which the two companies – Nivea and Foote, Cone & Belding decided to split putting an end to the 100-year partnership.
Carter Murray, Chief Executive for Foote, Cone & Belding released confirmed the same in a statement and said that the decision came “after much reflection and discussion on our creative ambitions.”
While Beirsdorf, the company behind Nivea, didn’t comment on the specific statement, a spokesperson from the company told trade publication Ad Age, “We are an international company with more than 20,000 employees with very different genders, ethnicities, orientations, backgrounds and personalities worldwide,”
“Through our products, we touch millions of consumers around the globe every day. We know and cherish that individuality and diversity in all regards brings inspiration and creativity to our society and to us as a company. No form of discrimination, direct and indirect, is tolerated,” he added.
The company has a fair share of such events in the past. In 2011 when the company showed a clean-shaven man attempting to throw a head of his former self with an afro and facial hair, the tagline of which was “Re-Civilise Yourself”. While the company apologised, it made headlines again in 2017 with it’s “white is purity” campaign that ran in the Middle East. Also that same year, Nivea’s Natural Fairness Body lotion targeted African consumers by promising “visibly fairer skin”.
Amongst the other furious Twitterati was actor George Takei who tweeted, “Nivea was shown an ad proposal from their agency that had two men touching hands. Their response? “We don’t do gay at Nivea.” Well, sorry, but from here forward, we gays and our friends don’t do Nivea. @NIVEAUSA“
Nivea was shown an ad proposal from their agency that had two men touching hands. Their response? “We don’t do gay at Nivea.” Well, sorry, but from here forward, we gays and our friends don’t do Nivea. @NIVEAUSA
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) July 2, 2019
I'm not gay but I refuse to patronize any business or use any product that attempts to marginalize or de-legitimize any form of love expressed between two people. For god sakes, the one thing we need most in this world is more love. I stand with you.
— Rod Davison 🇨🇦 🇩🇰 🇬🇱 🇺🇦 🇵🇦 (@Casually_Causal) July 2, 2019
https://twitter.com/DrMegFrazier/status/1146183621931352066
https://twitter.com/PattiTib/status/1146183235329757186
