NathanChinese Detergent Ad With Racist Undertones
The 2016 Qiaobi detergent advertisement in China created a buzz for all the wrong reasons. This ad showed a black man who used the detergent to wash clean after a woman rejects a kiss. He turned into a Chinese man after he was ‘clean’. The company did not feel so bad about the ad and fired back saying the ad was getting criticism because of “the over-amplification by the media.”
Coca-Cola And Geography
This Coca-Cola advertisement from Russian made a very bad impression despite the company’s well-established reputation. It looks like a snow-laden art on the map of Russia. But where is Kaliningrad? It is the city annexed with the end of World War II. This sparked the #BanCocaCola hashtag on social media and the outraged people were draining coke bottles in their toilets.
Rhode Island Resembles Iceland?
What happened when Rhode Island Commerce Corporation’s $5 million new video ad featured pictures of Iceland? The office tried blaming the mistake on the company they hired to make the video but the damage was already done. It was a shocking thing to see that the Rhode Island Gina Raimondo did not delete the video on twitter even after the mistake was called out.
Whitewashing “Juju On That Beat”
Fashion designer Tory Burch made use of the song “Juju on that Beat” by Zay Hilfiger & Zayion McCall to promote her 2017 collection. However, there was not a single African American in the ad. In the end, the advertisement was called off and Burch made a public apology saying“I personally feel bad if this hurt anyone, and I’m truly sorry.”
Snapchat’s Domestic Violence Ad
In March 2018, Snapchat released an ad that asked users if they would rather “slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown.” This is clearly a disrespectful Ad because there are thousands of people that are victims of domestic violence which leads to mental and physical turmoil. This lead to the app losing almost $1 billion worth of their share in the market after Rihanna left a criticism post on her Instagram.
Ikea Ad In China Stigmatized Single Women
Women in China who have crossed a certain age limit without a husband have been dubbed as ‘leftover women. So when Ikea released an ad that showed a woman being scolded by her mother for not bringing home a boyfriend, it rubbed people the wrong way. This discrimination against women and the social stigma it promotes was not well received and highly criticized.