Soap giant Procter & Gamble is standing by a controversial ad “The Talk” that has some whites in a lather and blacks showing clean support.
The ad, uploaded to YouTube last week, shows black mothers throughout the decades discussing racism with their children — and it was seen by some as having an anti-white message.
But the company disagreed with critics this week.
“People were like, ‘Thank you for speaking my truth,'” P&G spokesman Damon Jones told Eurweb.com. “But, it has been a past interesting couple of days where we’ve seen a few people position the ad quite differently and stoke some fires.”
Those fires include a critique form the right-leaning National Review, which called the ad “identity-politics pandering.”
The two-minute video was created for the company’s “My Black is Beautiful” campaign. It depicts black parents across the decades preparing their children for the inevitable racism they will face.
“It’s an ugly, nasty word, and you’re gonna hear it,” a 1950s-era mother tells her son, referring to a racial slur. “But you are not gonna let that word hurt you.”
Another scene shows a mom talking to a son who was left out of a baseball game.
“There are some people who think you don’t deserve the same privileges because of what you look like,” the mother says.
And a third mother reminds her daughter of the soft prejudice that makes everything more difficult for African-Americans.
“Remember you can do anything they can. The difference is you gotta work twice as hard and be twice as smart,” she says.
Some white critics focused on one scene in the two-minute clip featuring a mom today, teaching her daughter a valuable driving lesson — what to do when she’s pulled over.
The girl protests that she’s a good driver, but the mother reminds her she’s not talking about any traffic violation.
“This is not about you getting a ticket, this is about you coming home,” she says, subtly reference several police killings of black motorists.
But one police officer said the video pushes an anti-cop agenda.
“I am a proud parent of 2 African American kiddos and I’m a cop,” the person posted on Procter & Gamble’s Facebook page. “I will no longer buy any P&G products.”
Blacks defended the ad -— and the controversy it created was sort of the point, the P&G spokesman said.
“Our goal and job is to reflect the variety of conversations that are happening,” he said. “The desire and hope is that people come forward and engage in constructive dialogue … and that means understand the point of view of the black women who are reflected in the advertising.”
And this is not the first time P&G created campaigns aimed on selling messages — not only moist towelettes.
In 2014, the company launched the “Like a Girl” initiative that addressed gender inequality.
“We do it because we believe in talking about these topics leads to great understanding and that leads to change,” said Jones. “At the core of that, we believe strongly in equality so we have a world that’s not only good for society but for business.”
