Clicks SA has issued a statement on its social media accounts following the discovery of racially triggering images on its official website.
Is Clicks a racist corporation?
The cosmetics giant found itself at the receiving end of backlash when customers shopping their online catalogue found these images with contrasts between kinky and straight-textured hair.
The layout of the images could not be random. The purpose of these grossly controversial displays was to draw contrasts between these two unique hair types.
The kinky hair which grows from the crowns of black people was described as “dry and damaged”, “frizzy and dull”. On the other hand, the straight-textured hair, associated with white people, was “fine, flat and normal”.
The glaring controversy in the Clicks display ad makes it hard to fathom how this could not be a blatant ‘outrage marketing‘ scandal.
However, this is nothing we can verify since Clicks has issued out a statement vehemently denying accusations that it is a racist corporation.
Clicks issues apology: ‘We are advocates of natural hair’
Following the backlash, Clicks’ social media management department sprung into action, trying to clean up the dirt that’s been smeared on their name.
Every attack on the brand was rebutted with a generic statement which read:
“Hi, we are deeply sorry we have offended our natural hair community. We have removed the images, which go against everything we believe in at Clicks. We do not condone racism and are strong advocates of natural hair. We will put in place stricter measures on our website.”
And that’s it. The recourse for such a blunder was to remove the images and place quality assurance measures in place to prevent such from happening again.
Where is the accountability, the corporate responsibility action? That, we can’t answer. People have since called for the cancellation of the cosmetics company. These are some of the reactions we picked out from social media: