Miss Universe 2019 Zozibini Tunzi has responded to a Clicks hair campaign that has been trending on social media for all the wrong reasons. Highly disappointed in the retailer’s judgement, Tunzi said it was highly disrespectful towards black lives.
Clicks is currently in the line of fire for posting a highly offensive hair campaign. The retailer posted images of black people’s hair, labelling it “dry, damaged and frizzy” and white people’s hair as ‘normal’.Tunzi, like many others, took to Twitter expressing her dissatisfaction over the hair campaign.
Tagging Clicks, she said; “Not only is this disrespectful to black lives, it is also evidence of an absence of representation and diversity within the organization. And we are talking about a South Africa with a population of about 80% black people (stand to be corrected). No ways.”
The images, which Clicks quickly removed, essentially showed different types of women with different types of hair which is all good and well. The problem was that it labelled the image of a black woman with an afro, as being “dry, damaged and frizzy”.
An image of a white woman with straight hair was labelled as having “normal” hair.
There has since been an uproar on social media where Twitter users, in particular, have ripped Clicks apart, some even cutting their membership cards up and threatening to shop at Dis-Chem.“I’m so tired of brands using our Blackness as a publicity stunt or advertising tool. I’m so tired of educating corporates about Black hair, Black skin, Black lives. This is blatant racism,” a Twitter user said.
EFF member Mbuyiseni Ndlozi also hit back at the brand saying; “We are the black majority and should never, ever accept racism in any form. Our hair, our skin & our bodies, in our country and the world, must be respected, by any revolutionary means necessary! Blacks should go to Clicks and get their justice, to hell with reconciliation and apologies!”
APOLOGIES ISSUED
Clicks quickly apologised but it was in no way good enough.
“We would like to issue an unequivocal apology. We have removed the images which go against everything we believe in. We do not condone racism and we are strong advocates of natural hair. We are deeply sorry and will put in place stricter measures on our website,” it said.
“We have made a mistake and sincerely apologise for letting you down. We recognise we have a role to play in creating a more diverse and inclusive S.A, starting with our website content. We know we need to do better, and commit to ensuring our content better