Is The Dove Soap Ad Really Racist ? New From Rose Quartz

Rose Quartz 

We have whites still asking us if we wash our hair and other ridiculous questions. And in all honest truth many whites have admitted to us in secret how much they admire our skin and wish they had it. So why the public disrespect ? Or are we Over-Reacting 

- Rose Quartz

This is a brief blog to address the Dove Soap Ad in which a Black Model Turns White as she peels off a brown t- shirt and brown face . The Black Model involved says the photo shoot involved a multi racial group of models "turning into each other" to show that all women have skin problems and deserve to be moisturized. However the print add has struck many as offensive. It seems similiar to a laundry detergent add that applied the same sort of racial transformation to speak on the topic of going from "dirty to clean" and from  "soiled to fresh". The Dove ad also seems to suggest an upgrade from "dry to soft skin".  Also worrisome is Dove has a product which states it is for "Normal to Dark Skin"....wait ..is Dark Skin not normal skin ?

   Dark skinned people are the majority on this earth. We are also a massive consumer group many of whom buy drain-clogging, goopy, greasy "body washes" which are mostly an application of synthetic perfume that one slathers on and rinses off in the shower to acquire a smell better than they had before.

I hope that most of us are wise enough to not put chemical based store bought products on our skin. That is not healthy for anybody. While mainstream companies have begun to utilize shea butter as a moisturizer, our hope is that people will choose to purchase their Shea butter from community vendors who purchase directly from African Vendors to get the purist products. Moist skin ? No thanks. How about clean shining , smooth, radiant brown and dark skin that holds light and captures the  life giving rays of the sun , embraced by natural beauty ? 

Everyone deserves to feels beautiful. Constantly being portrayed as the Before picture is absurd.

Doves Ongoing Theme as it Appears To Suggest
Dry Pre-Washed= Dark Skin, Are We Misunderstanding ?

We think this ad is potentially harmful to some people self esteem, In some cases here in America and abroad, people with dark skin are made to feel inferior, despite often speaking multiple languages, and having a varitey of amazing skills and a historical legacy of teaching everything from superior agricultural practices to architecture and medicine and healing to other lighter skinned people. This add can hurt those who suffer at the hands of society impressing further on them that dark skin is unsavory. This blog is quick reminder of who taught who to bathe. It may seem petty to even respond to Dove but it is not a waste of time to clear up the confusion. Myself and many other darkskinned people have had to deal with the silliness of whites asking us if our dark was dirt. We have whites still asking us if we wash our hair and other ridiculous questions. And in all honest truth many whites have admitted to us in secret how much they admire our skin and wish they had it. So why the public disrespect ?

Detergent Ad in which a Black Man Gets Pushed in a Washer
and Comes out a Lighter Skin

Dove is Consistant With Illustrating Dry/ Bad  as being Darker Shade
& Clean/Moist Skin=White

A Brief Peek into History Tells Us  That The History Of Racism Stinks 
( No one should be making anyone feel bad due to race or skin color) 

" In Medieval Europe members of the upper classes, on the other hand, rather than completely forgo bathing, tended to cut down their full body bathing habits down to around a few times per year, striking a balance between risk of acquiring a disease from the bath vs. body stench"
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/05/why-bathing-was-uncommon-in-medievaleurope/

 The citizens of Williamsburg would have smelled pretty ripe, too. Even the dandified Tory would have struck modern nostrils as noticeably aromatic. It's safe to assume that we would have found the entire Old Dominion-in fact, all thirteen colonies-afflicted with B.O. And since everyone stank, no one noticed it or recorded it for history. Sensitive souls might bury their faces in nosegays or scented hankies when a long-unwashed regiment tramped past, but most of our forebears remained as blissfully unaware of their stench as we are of the growing foulness of our air.

Ablutions were skimpy in those days. A little dab here and there with a damp cloth would do you, even in the fashionable capital of Virginia. 

Edwards Park's article "The British in Williamsburg" appeared in the Autumn 1995 issue of this journal.

 "Most black hair does not produce its own oils... which is why they should not wash their hair as often and need proper moisturizers. white people on the other hand produce lots of oil which needs to be washed out often to keep it looking clean." - White Mother of a Biracial Daughter


"The Greeks were the first civilized Europeans who were primarily civilized by the Black Africans of the Nile Valley. The Greeks passed on this acquired culture to the Romans who ultimately lost it, thus initiating the dark ages that lasted for 500 years. Civilization was again restored to Europe when another group of Black Africans, The Moors, brought the Dark Ages to an end.  During the dark ages in Christian Europe, the Moors had built more than 300 public baths throughout its 21 suburbs, also introducing Spain to underwear and bathing with soap, at a time when taking a bath was thought to be a diabolical practice to be shunned by all good Christians, and cleanliness was regarded as a sin. Human waste was simply thrown into the streets because there were no bathrooms available."
-Norman McCleary, Internationl Historian

"For some lower class citizens, particularly men, this resulted in them largely forgoing bathing whenever possible.  During this time, people tended to restrict their hygienic arrangements to just washing hands, parts of the face, and rinsing their mouths. Washing one’s entire face was thought to be dangerous as it was believed to cause catarrh and weaken the eyesight, so even this was infrequent."


Hmmm.. well we are not going to give a conclusive analysis of the dove soap ad. But ahh I think I smell a rat.