Black women and y’all hair. I swear.
For the past week or so, there has been yet another controversy swirling around the value of black folks as consumers. Not a new concept, right? Nivea and Pepsi come to mind as recent offenders. But now a new contender has entered the fray – Shea Moisture. Yes Shea Moisture, the lil beauty company that could. The one that grew literally from a nut in a village in Sierra Leone to a multi-million dollar company, mostly on the backs of black women, who they JUST turned their backs on. How you ask? Well they released an ad where…well, look.
SheaMoisture is CANCELLED pic.twitter.com/T4Dru1JgAq
— NANA JIBRIL ??️? (@girlswithtoys) April 24, 2017
Then, when one of the internet’s ashiest negroes, Hotep Master T aka Tariq Nasheed, wanted to insert himself, they did this.
And then when the black woman magic contingency of the internet, got hold of their smart devices, laptops and carrier pigeons and dragged Shea Moisture over every jagged surface they could find they were forced to do this:
“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. So, the feedback we are seeing here brings to light a very important point. While this campaign included several different videos showing different ethnicities and hair types to demonstrate the breadth and depth of each individual’s hair journey, we must absolutely ensure moving forward that our community is well-represented in each one so that the women who have led this movement never feel that their hair journey is minimized in any way. We are keenly aware of the journey that WOC face – and our work will continue to serve as the inspiration for work like the Perception Institute’s Good Hair Study/Implicit Association Test that suggests that a majority of people, regardless of race and gender, hold some bias towards women of color based on their textured or natural hair. So, you’re right. We are different – and we should know better.”
LOL. Yall wanted to line up with Master Hotep then issue an apology. MAN PLEASE. Apology, Schmapology.
Far be it from me to stay quiet…..so I dropped in WVON this morning to discuss the matter at hand with hosts Maze Jackson and Charles Thomas. Check it.
I pop in at bout the 35 minute mark.
Myalogists! You can find me on WVON 1690AM EVERY Thursday from 630a-7a! Join the conversation
