Some of South Africa's biggest retailers will no longer sell TRESemmé hair products, following  protests over an advert that denigrated black hair. Pictures of African hair were labelled "frizzy  and dull", "dry and damaged" in an online advert for TRESemmé products featured by  pharmacy chain Clicks. White hair, meanwhile, was labelled "normal" and "fine and flat". Shoprite, Woolworths and  Pick N Pay all say they have removed TRESemmé products from their shelves, as has Clicks.  Earlier this week, a senior executive at Clicks resigned and a number of employees were  suspended. The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says critics found the advert particularly  insensitive because of the historic issues around African hair in South Africa. Under whiteminority rule, the state used the so-called "pencil test" to decide who was black or mixed-race - depending on how easily the pencil moved through the hair. Many Clicks stores were forced to  close on Monday following protests led by opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF),  who called the hair advert "racist" and "dehumanising". One shop sustained minor damage after being firebombed, police said. Following a meeting  between the EFF, Clicks and TRESemmé's parent company Unilever on Thursday, the party said  Unilever would remove all TRESemmé products from South African stores for a period of 10  days and donate at least 10,000 sanitary pads to informal settlements in the country. Earlier  this week the chief executive of Clicks, Vikesh Ramsunder, also apologised, adding that an audit  of all promotional material would be "urgently implemented" as well as diversity and inclusivity  training. "The implications of this are that black identity exists as inferior to the identity of  white people. It is an assertion that white standards of beauty are to be aspired to and features  of black represent damage, decay and abnormality," the EFF said in a statement earlier this  week. Background - o What caused the Clicks Hair Ad Saga? • Purpose of the report - o Why is this report necessary in this context

Social Psychology (10th Edition)
10th Edition
ISBN:9780134641287
Author:Elliot Aronson, Timothy D. Wilson, Robin M. Akert, Samuel R. Sommers
Publisher:Elliot Aronson, Timothy D. Wilson, Robin M. Akert, Samuel R. Sommers
Chapter1: Introducing Social Psychology
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Some of South Africa's biggest retailers will no longer sell TRESemmé hair products, following 
protests over an advert that denigrated black hair. Pictures of African hair were labelled "frizzy 
and dull", "dry and damaged" in an online advert for TRESemmé products featured by 
pharmacy chain Clicks.
White hair, meanwhile, was labelled "normal" and "fine and flat". Shoprite, Woolworths and 
Pick N Pay all say they have removed TRESemmé products from their shelves, as has Clicks. 
Earlier this week, a senior executive at Clicks resigned and a number of employees were 
suspended. The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says critics found the advert particularly 
insensitive because of the historic issues around African hair in South Africa. Under whiteminority rule, the state used the so-called "pencil test" to decide who was black or mixed-race -
depending on how easily the pencil moved through the hair. Many Clicks stores were forced to 
close on Monday following protests led by opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), 
who called the hair advert "racist" and "dehumanising".
One shop sustained minor damage after being firebombed, police said. Following a meeting 
between the EFF, Clicks and TRESemmé's parent company Unilever on Thursday, the party said 
Unilever would remove all TRESemmé products from South African stores for a period of 10 
days and donate at least 10,000 sanitary pads to informal settlements in the country. Earlier 
this week the chief executive of Clicks, Vikesh Ramsunder, also apologised, adding that an audit 
of all promotional material would be "urgently implemented" as well as diversity and inclusivity 
training. "The implications of this are that black identity exists as inferior to the identity of 
white people. It is an assertion that white standards of beauty are to be aspired to and features 
of black represent damage, decay and abnormality," the EFF said in a statement earlier this 
week.

Background -
o What caused the Clicks Hair Ad Saga?
• Purpose of the report -
o Why is this report necessary in this context

 

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