In a time when marketing mashups ensnare brands big and small, yet another beauty label landed in a storm of social media outrage after its latest ad.
Last Monday, SheaMoisture released a promotional video on Facebook that featured one black and three white women. The one-minute clip, whose slogan “Everybody gets love” urges the embrace of all hair types, would not have splashed in the news if it was not for SheaMoisture’s base of predominantly African-American shoppers.
Many viewed the commercial, which the company has since taken down but Twitter users have perpetuated, as a sign of the label’s abandoning its core demographic as it seeks to expand to a wider audience. This is not the case, SheaMoisture CEO Richelieu Dennis said in a rather candid apology.
Responding to the backlash, the label posted on Facebook: “Wow, okay – so guys, listen, we really f-ed this one up. Please know that our intention was not – and would never be – to disrespect our community, and as such, we are pulling this piece immediately because it does not represent what we intended to communicate. You guys know that we have always stood for inclusion in beauty and have always fought for our community and given them credit for not just building our business but for shifting the beauty landscape.”
In an interview with New York Magazine, Dennis also responded to rumors that SheaMoisture is to tweak its formulas as it pivots toward white women. “We will continue to focus on women with curly hair. What we have done is grown.”
SheaMoisture offers over 170 products, Dennis said, and the majority of them serve different kinds of curly hair. Dennis launched the brand in the early 1990s with his mother Mary Dennis and friend Nyema Tubman. The three also own Sundial, an umbrella of beauty brands that is regarded as the largest African-American-owned company in the US.
