Nivea’s ‘Civilized’ Ad Gets Raked Over the Coals

Early last week, Beiersdorf’s global brand—Nivea—launched a seedy ad in the September issue of Esquire magazine under its new campaign, “Look like you give a damn", for its men's care products. I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the ad’s controversial nature (clean-cut African American man in a collared white shirt, swinging back to throw his old, “uncivilized" afro head across a parking lot) and its “Re-Civilize Yourself" slogan that only appeared in the black male ad, not the white male ad.

Racist? Well, regardless of intent, Nivea offended quite a few people, forcing them to issue an apology statement and pull the ad from future marketing activities. Nivea isn’t the first to launch a questionable ad campaign, and they probably won’t be the last. I would think a company as big as Nivea would have ran that campaign through their legal department (and their common sense department), preventing this entire mess. What are your thoughts?