Personal care company Burt’s Bees has apologized over an allegedly “offensive” ad featuring a black family wearing the business’ pajamas.
Outrage erupted online when an ad appeared to feature four families; all the families in the ad included a mother, father, and children, except the black family, where there was a mother with her two children. Folks were upset that the ad was apparently enforcing “harmful stereotypes” about black people.
Can y'all see it?😡 pic.twitter.com/X7g570FXuf
— Opiniohated/Mitt Philosophical (@Cajunwealth) November 22, 2020
Burt’s Bee issued an apology on Thursday, claiming the ad’s “impact” had unintentionally caused “harm.”
“We are so deeply sorry. We have learned a lot this year about impact and intent. Our intent was never to promote an awful stereotype about black families or to inflict hurt upon anyone. We understand that even so, there is an impact and this image causes harm,” the statement said in part, according to BET.com.
Moreover, Burt’s Bees said that all the families featured in the Twitter post were real families, not actors. And the black family in particular, they said, included a mother, father, and children like the rest of the families. However, the father of the black family was at work and couldn’t make the shoot; the family decided to move forward with the shoot with just the mother and children. BET.com reported:
According to the statement, real families were used in the photo shoots, which were originally scheduled for the past summer. However, the pandemic forced them to reschedule the photo sessions, which conflicted with the Black dad’s work schedule. The Black mom still participated with their two daughters.
In a statement posted Sunday night on Twitter, the business added: “On behalf of the 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.”
The personal care company also noted that they never posted those four images together; that was done by a Twitter user: “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.”
“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,” the statement continued. “… [W]e have learned a lot about impact and intent, and we own the responsibility of the impact of having the image on our website. We understand that representation matters, that that representation has impact.”
“Please know that Burt’s Bees Baby is actively and continually working on our own inclusion and diversity journey as an organization,” the company said, adding, “We will do better.”
— Burt's Bees (@BurtsBees) November 23, 2020