Shea Moisture Under Fire for Their Latest Ad Campaign Featuring a White Child

Have ya’ll heard? Twitter has been going ham on Shea Moisture, calling for world wide boycott because the new ad campaign used by the company featured a white child (see above).

Now, I am going to keep it all the way real and tell you there is no way in the world I am boycotting Shea Moisture because of white children on an ad. Their beauty products, oils*, scrubs and masks are everything for my hair and skin, and a white child on a phone doesn’t change that.

I know this is a tough topic: just last year I was pissed at Carol’s Daughter for selling their soul to L’Oreal, but after hearing Lisa’s thoughts on her decision; looking at the situation outside of my feelings, and completely from a business perspective, I understood it.

There is no business out there with the goal of remaining stagnant, capturing more and more market share will always be the ultimate goal. Dove tries to capture the hearts of the curly haired black girl and Shea moisture* might be trying to appeal to a white audience that just might love their product line, like we do.

In retrospect, it isn’t a big deal; does the ad take away from the quality of the product? Does it mean that you or I can no longer benefit from it? Of course not!

Shea Moisture* might be family owned (and black owned), but they never had any intention of only marketing to black people. Could they have used a black or Hispanic child in their ad campaigns? Sure they could have, just as many brands that are considered ‘white’ use black women in their ad campaigns to ad diversity to their product line.

If a company that wants to really expand and capture greater market share they cannot color themselves as either black or white which is what the bigger issue is, it could be very limiting for them. If more people and by people I mean all races, do not buy the product how can they expand and keep giving us more amazing quality stuff?

Check out the view on Twitter:

“Yeah like I’m sorry who is their target market ? I’m just wondering here.”

“tryna expand that market I guess smh.”

“they are dead wrong for this sh*t.”

“Nah I feel some type of way why not cast your kind unless ya investors white.”

“I don’t feel like popping off so I’m going to pretend she’s Black with a full body birthmark.”

“The sharp shift in marketing is jarring.”

Then on the other side of the coin:

“The thing is, @SheaMoisture is a superior product that works for everybody. They haven’t sold out just because Whites buy it.”

“This why y’all boycotting shea moisture? -_-.”

“Wait. @SheaMoisture is in Target, Walgreens and more. They can’t have ANY white people in their ads? :-o.”

I am not mad: are you?

Editors Edit:

Shea Moisture released a statement this morning regarding the backlash:

We came across an image of a little girl with a puzzled expression that we imagine our #SheaFamily has when they run out of product, so we shared it with you. No ad. No agenda.

As a certified minority-owned business, we are so proud of our heritage, our community and how far we’ve come — from a village market in Sierra Leone, to the streets of Harlem, to retailers throughout the U.S. With your support, we’ve been able to bring change, diversity and variety to retail.

We hope you continue to join us in celebrating how the versatility of our products can help people everywhere.”