Lola Ogunyem, the black model featured in the controversial Dove ad that has been making headline news around the world, is now speaking out in defense of the campaign.
She made her case in an op-ed piece in the op-ed for The Guardian titled, “I am the woman in the ‘racist Dove ad’. I am not a victim.”
I was the first model to appear in the ad, describing my skin as “20% dry, 80% glowing”, and appearing again at the end. I loved it, and everyone around me seemed to as well. I think the full TV edit does a much better job of making the campaign’s message loud and clear.
The British-Nigerian model featured in the Dove campaign, which has since been pulled following an outpouring of criticism calling it racist, says that the brand had no intention of being divisive and that the spot was “misinterpreted”.
“All of the women in the shoot understood the concept and overarching objective–to use our differences to highlight the fact that all skin deserves gentleness,” Ogunyemi wrote. She suggests the images shared on social media, which prompted much of the outrage, did not provide enough context for the campaign.
Ogunyem is of Nigerian descent, born in London and raised in Atlanta, Georgia in the U.S.
Here is an excerpt from her op-ed:
From a very young age, I’ve been told, “You’re so pretty … for a dark-skinned girl.” I am a Nigerian woman, born in London and raised in Atlanta. I’ve grown up very aware of society’s opinion that dark-skinned people, especially women, would look better if our skin were lighter.
I know that the beauty industry has fueled this opinion with its long history of presenting lighter, mixed-race or white models as the beauty standard. Historically, and in many countries still today, darker models are even used to demonstrate a product’s skin-lightening qualities to help women reach this standard.
This repressive narrative is one I have seen affect women from many different communities I’ve been a part of. And this is why, when Dove offered me the chance to be the face of a new body wash campaign, I jumped.
Having the opportunity to represent my dark-skinned sisters in a global beauty brand felt like the perfect way for me to remind the world that we are here, we are beautiful, and more importantly, we are valued.
Then one morning, I woke up to a message from a friend asking if the woman in a post he’d seen was really me. I went online and discovered I had become the unwitting poster child for racist advertising. No lie.
Ogunyemi went on to say she was happy with how the final edit turned out –including the 13-second Facebook spot and the extended version of the ad which was intended for TV.
She thought Dove was right to apologize but could have made a better effort explaining their creative vision.
While I agree with Dove’s response to unequivocally apologise for any offense caused, they could have also defended their creative vision, and their choice to include me, an unequivocally dark-skinned black woman, as a face of their campaign. I am not just some silent victim of a mistaken beauty campaign. I am strong, I am beautiful, and I will not be erased.
It’s not been easy adjusting to being a part of the controversy she wrote: “If you Google ‘racist ad’ right now, a picture of my face is the first result.”
You can read the the entire op-ed here.
