American personal care products company Burt’s Bees is under fire for a series of photos posted to their website. The collection of images featured 4 families, 3 of which are represented by a Caucasian mother, father, and 2 children. The 4th family is represented by a Black mother, and her 2 children. The bold visual reinforces the age-old stereotype that Black families are raised without their fathers.
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The imagery sent social media in a frenzy. Users furiously called out the brand by telling them how dangerous and racist it is to push this kind of narrative. Once Burt’s Bees got wind of the uproar, they posted a statement to their social media platforms apologizing for their lack of judgement:
“On behalf of Burt’s Bees Baby, in response to an image of a family shown on our website, we are deeply sorry for the hurt this image has caused. We recognize the importance of portraying families in a way that doesn’t promote harmful stereotypes. Our choice to use this photo when part of the family was not available for a rescheduled photoshoot was wrong, and we have removed the image from our website.
These four images were not part of an ad and not collectively compiled by our Company, but pasted together by a Twitter user using different images of actual families we have on our website, which includes other representations of real Black families.
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Burt’s Bees Issues An Apology After Offensive Holiday Ad Features A Fatherless Black Family was originally published on hellobeautiful.com