Dear black child, you wake up to too much every single day.
Do not lose heart. It won’t be like this forever. We are here to reclaim our
dignity one ad at a time.
Kind regards a fellow black child.
This is a short letter to all black people and the future
black child. We won’t always have the most disturbing and antagonising adverts,
brought on by agencies and creative directors who feel they can do whatever
they please in their positions power.
Whilst it’s said that Dove has made a distasteful advert
apparently it’s not the first time. Six years prior to this advert they had
another racist and disgusting advert. Meaning that six years ago we might not
have been as “woke” as we are now, since we don’t remember dragging them on
Social Media. But I would much rather think we were not as vocal as we are
today. We were still in our passive slumber and not willing to unpack racism as
we are now. Now we see people writing books and realising albums depicting the
very essence of how disgruntled we really are. Activism has evolved from
rallies and marches with colourful and riveting placards to intellectual
property and rightfully so.
Social Media has also allowed all those who might have been
heard previously the opportunity to be heard and seen. The opportunity to say; “not
on my watch”. The opportunity to question whatever is put out there. There is
also a plot twist here. The idea that people need to create their own products
so that the oppressed group can rise. The opportunity of inclusive activity and
not exclusivity within our society. And also an opportunity to state that black
as well as any other skin is important and that all skin colours belong. My question to the black people is what do
the “appropriate” adverts look like? What do you want to hear and why do you
want to hear and see that? Because we can jump, scream, kick and shout until we
are pale in the face but get know where in redirecting the wrongs to work in
our favour.
Our re-appropriation need to be directed to the level that
we can be proud of. Where we can dictate the change and where we are looking to
get the change we truly want to see in our own worlds.
I thank you for reading this far. Place your comments and
suggestions in the comments below.
(All images sourced off Twitter)
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