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The company was later forced to remove the promotional images and issue an official apology
A commercial for “NIVEA” cosmetics and skin care products sparked outrage among the pioneers of social networking sites in Morocco, which prompted the German company to withdraw it and apologize for it later.
Moroccan activists and tweeters engaged in a campaign to boycott the company, describing its recent advertisement as “provocative and racist”. What did the advertisement include?
Advertising content
The German company was inspired by its new advertisement from the World Cup atmosphere, so it published pictures of a Moroccan and a Croatian cheerleader, after the Atlas Lions and the “Vatreni” team were eliminated from the semi-final round.
These images come as part of a new advertising campaign, through which Nivea aims to promote a product that removes make-up. Therefore, the company used two models, the first of which painted the Moroccan flag on its face, while the second decorated its face with the colors of the Croatian flag.
The company attached a picture of the Moroccan cheerleader with the result of the semi-final match, which ended with the French team’s victory over its Moroccan counterpart with two clean goals.
In the same vein, the German company published a picture of the Croatian cheerleader, accompanied by the result of the match, which ended in the defeat of the Croats by three goals against Argentina.
“Nivea” shortened its campaign with the following slogan, “A product that removes powders and tears,” in reference to the image of the two models, whose signs of sadness were evident on their faces.
The advertisement also included other promotional phrases in an attempt to entice World Cup fans to buy new lotion and get rid of paint and dyes.
In a post on Instagram, the company wrote, “Nivea supports the most successful African country in the World Cup by 100 percent. You can wipe away the powders and tears, and your skin will be clean and ready to cheer your team again.”
Accusations of discrimination and ridicule
But it seems that this advertising campaign backfired and the company was criticized in different languages.
Arab and foreign activists accused the company of mocking the Moroccan and Croatian teams, especially since the advertisement did not include the flags of the rest of the teams that left the tournament early.
On the other hand, some defended the slogans used in the advertisement as “just funny propaganda that does not mean insult or belittlement.”
However, the wit that some saw in the advertisement, others found in it, “an unaccounted indifference that has fallen the company into the trap of flattening and promoting stereotyped ideas.”
Rather, there are those who accused the advertising makers of deliberately stirring up controversy, following the principle of “bad publicity is good publicity,” meaning that it was intended as part of the marketing strategy for the new product.
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While some female tweeters saw the advertisement as “clear discrimination against women.”
In this context, one of them commented: “What is disturbing in the ad is the depiction of female cheerleaders in the form of broken women, as if only women are affected by the loss of elected representatives… I wonder why the company did not hire male models, especially since it has many men’s products. This is a frivolous ad, like other ads that are based on consolidating An emotional portrait of a woman.
As the criticism continued, Nivea was quick to delete and publish an apology via the Instagram Story feature, in which it denied its intention to offend the elected fans or hurt their feelings.
In a message addressed to the supporters of the Moroccan national team, the German company said, “The matter is not intended and does not aim to diminish the Moroccan national team and its wonderful efforts, adding that it will work in the future to take all necessary measures and measures to raise the standards of communication with them.”
The Moroccan national team ended its journey in the World Cup Qatar 2022 with an unprecedented historic achievement, after it succeeded in reaching the golden square.
The Atlas Lions played 7 matches to finish fourth in the World Championship after losing to the Croatian national team in the match for third place.