A Brazilian company is using the “Black is beautiful” slogan in an ad campaign but the internet isn’t having it
The slogan was coined by the cultural movement of black Americans fighting for equal social and economic opportunities in the 1960s, but it moved beyond the bounds of the U.S. It was also used by Steve Biko in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.
But now, a company in Brazil called Santher, has appropriated the term for a brand of luxury black toilet paper. An ad for the campaign features a naked white actress named Marina Ruy Barbosa, wrapped in black toilet paper. The toilet paper was launched the product on Monday.
According to Okay Africa, shortly after the launch, Anderson Franca, a Rio based writer known denounced the ad and noted that the fight for black liberation is far from over.
The post, which has been shared thousands of times, called Santher’s campaign “racist and irresponsible, conscious and deliberate.”
Franca pointed to the sad truth that anywhere in the world, a search for “Black is Beautiful” pulls up references to “Angela Davis, Malcolm X, The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, Fela Kuti, James Baldwin, Nina Simone…“, but in Brazil, it pulls up toilet paper.
One Twitter user expressed disbelief in a Tweet that simply said, “Cultural appropriation we see around here. #Blackisbeautiful is the propaganda of toilet paper?”
Later on Tuesday, Santher expressed regret that the ad caused offence and removed the statement, but the outrage on social media, mostly in Portuguese, is still pouring in.
Though Santha’s retraction was swift, it looks like the damage is done.
One tweeter user captured the sentiment rather well “#personalvipblack a campaign irresponsible, disgraceful, ignorant, disrespectful and rotten.”
Follow us: @sidomex on Twitter | @sidomexuniversal on Facebook |@sidomexuniversal on Instagram
The best response is to leave it on the shelf