Unilever Removes TRESemmé Products Due To ‘Racist’ Hair Ads In South Africa

On Monday, many stores from Clicks, a major pharmacy chain in South Africa, were forced to shut down following protests about adverts by hair product brand TRESemmé that were described as “racist” and “dehumanizing.”
TRESemmé’s online adverts, published by the store, showed photos of African hair labeled as “frizzy and dull” and “dry and damaged.”
Meanwhile, Caucasian hair was depicted as “normal” and “fine and flat.”
The advert was seen as insensitive due to historical issues surrounding African hair in South Africa. Under white-minority rule, the country had utilized a “pencil test” to check on who was Black or mixed-race by how easily a pencil could slide through the hair.
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South Africa’s major retailers, including Clicks, also removed TRESemmé products from its shelves in protest with opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
According to the BBC, TRESemmé’s parent company Unilever has promised to remove all TRESemmé products from South African stores for 10 days and donate at least 10,000 sanitary pads to parts of the country that need them the most.

[via BBC, cover image via KerrysWorld / Shutterstock.com]