“All Lives Matter!” It’s an unfortunately common response to the proclamation of “Black Lives Matter” by people who are either ignorant to the struggle or the meaning behind the phrase, and those who just straight up don’t believe that Black lives actually do matter. Shea Moisture, a popular brand that primarily caters to the hair care needs of Black women, recently released a commercial that raised a lot of eyebrows and almost immediately went viral, for all the wrong reasons. The commercial, which SheaMoisture has since taken down from their Facebook page, reeked of the natural hair movement equivalent of “All Hair Textures Matter.”

 

By now, you’ve probably seen or at least heard about the commercial in question, but in case you haven’t, you can watch it here. It features three White women with straight hair and one Black woman with curly hair talking about their struggles with “hair hate” and how they learned to love their natural hair. This was one segment from a larger marketing campaign that featured women with a variety of hair textures. Some of the other videos in the campaign (like this one, which was posted on SheaMoisture’s Facebook page about a month ago) feature women who represent the brand’s core customer base: Black women with natural hair that ranges from curly to kinky. So why is there so much controversy about the latest commercial? Let’s take a look.

 

 

 

Why It’s Problematic

Personally, I have two main issues with this particular commercial. The first problem isn’t that it features White women: it’s that it appears to take a “look, we’re all the same” approach with its #everybodygetslove hashtag and phrases like “Break Free From Hair Hate.” Yes, we all have our own insecurities and struggles, but for many Black women, learning to love and accept your natural hair isn’t comparable to the general insecurities a White woman may have about her hair color. For generations, Black people (especially Black women) have been conditioned to reject their hair the way it grows naturally. That’s why straightening our hair with heat or chemical treatments starting at a young age is not only accepted: it’s often expected. So, by lumping everyone into the same group, this commercial downplays the very real struggles that Black women face when it comes to natural hair, including but not limited to feeling pressured to alter our hair texture in order to be considered presentable in school and in the workplace.

The second problem I have with the commercial is that by featuring three White women and one Black woman, they’re essentially turning their main customer into the minority as far as representation goes. And if we’re talking about Black women with kinky hair, they’re absent altogether. There’s no reason why (even in just one video) your core customer base shouldn’t be represented, unless you’re advertising specific products designed for the new demographic you’re trying to appeal to (which was not the case here); even then, it can be risky.

 

 

Inclusion?

Let me be really clear: I’m not blind to the fact that women of all colors and hair textures struggle with accepting their hair, and I’m not trying to argue about whose struggle is harder or dismiss anyone’s challenges. I’m also aware that redheads get teased and Black women with looser curls are often dismissed from conversations about the natural hair movement and are often alienated in a completely different way that women with kinkier textures tend to be. However, in no way, shape or form is marketing to, catering to, and celebrating hair textures that are most often overlooked and viewed as less than beautiful an exclusionary practice.

As far as marketing goes, I do believe in inclusion, but not at the expense of those who’ve been willfully excluded for years. At the end of the day, representation matters.

I think that the powers that be should have been sensitive to the complexities that exist within the realm of natural hair as it relates to Black women. They also should have thought about the all too common erasure of Black women, even within the natural hair movement itself, when they signed off on this campaign. They should have found a way to market to a different demographic that didn’t involve looping in everyone in a campaign that encourages women to embrace their natural hair. They should have found a way to say, “hey, we’ve got something for everyone,” without completely moving the spotlight off of their core customer base or downplaying what being natural means to a lot of Black women.

 

The Explanation 

The CEO of Sundial Brands (SheaMoisture, Nubian Heritage, and Madame CJ Walker Beauty Culture all fall under the Sundial umbrella) Richelieu Dennis, appeared on News One Now with Roland Martin and explained that while he approved the campaign in its entirety, when it came to the video that’s causing all the controversy, “that particular sequencing got missed.”

Personally, as someone who’s worked in media and has sat in on edit sessions with video editors, I find it a little hard to believe that “that particular sequencing” wasn’t reviewed by someone in charge before it was posted online. Someone had to make a decision about how the final version of that specific clip was edited and someone had to have viewed that segment before sharing it online.  So, someone had to have known that this clip might be received poorly by many SheaMoisture customers. If not, then that says a lot about who SheaMoisture has on their team making decisions and calling the shots.

It’s always a slippery slope when Black-owned companies start to diversify their market (i.e. market to more than just Black people).

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to expand your customer base: nothing at all. But it’s important not to forget about or alienate the people who’ve supported your brand and helped get it to where it is.

And for some, this commercial also confirms suspicions that the company’s been watering down some of their products so that they can be used on looser/finer hair textures.

 

 

The Root of the Problem

After his interview with Richelieu Dennis, Roland Martin had a panel of guests on his show to further discuss the controversy surrounding the commercial. The clip, which you can watch here, concluded with a panel of two Black men and one Indian-American woman, defending the video and discussing why it’s important and okay for Shea Moisture to diversify. One of the men on the panel even made a comment about Black people wanting to take possession of Black-owned companies but not wanting to “invest in those companies.” Excuse me sir: maybe Black women didn’t invest in the same way Bain Capital did, but they damn sure invested by way of purchasing power and spreading the word about SheaMoisture products: and not just to a couple of their girlfriends, but on larger platforms like blogs and YouTube vlogs with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, often at no cost to the company.

Black women were notably left out of the conversation in the panel discussion that takes place during this latter part of this segment. I can’t help but wonder if the lack of Black women at the table is what led to all this controversy in the first place. I’ve been a SheaMoisture supporter for several years now. Not only does the company make great hair and body products from quality, natural ingredients, but they also make a commendable effort to serve the community. But I’m disappointed. I can only hope they learn an important lesson about staying true to their roots and to the women who’ve been their biggest supporters since Day One.

 

What do you think about this commercial and the conversation surrounding it?

 

 

 

GROUP PHOTOS CO: CREATEHER STOCK