A shower gel advert has been banned for depicting black skin as ‘problematic’ and white skin as ‘superior’, the advertising watchdog has said.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned the ad after investigating complaints that it perpetuated a ‘negative and offensive racial stereotype’.
The Sanex shower gel ad, broadcast in June, depicted a black woman with red scratch marks and another covered with a cracked clay-like material.
Over this, a voiceover said: ‘To those who might scratch day and night. To those whose skin will feel dried out even by water.’
Over scenes of a white woman the ad stated: ‘Try to take a shower with the new Sanex skin therapy and its patented amino acid complex. For 24 hour hydration feel.’
