The controversial Clicks advertisement went viral on social media last week Friday.
The contrasting images created by Unilever Tresemmè brand and posted on the Clicks website, was of a white woman's head with the description, "fine and flat hair", next to a black woman's head with "dry and damaged hair".
Julius Malema locks the doors of a Clicks outlet in Polokwane.
Professor Thuli
The eMalahleni Clicks store was petrol-bombed while 15 others were damaged. The national shutdown of Clicks outlets in South Africa is set to end on Friday.
The reactions from black consumers were obvious. The same happened to H&M in 2018 when it advertised a hooded jacket modelled by a black child bearing the phrase, "Coolest monkey in the jungle".
According to the Clicks CEO, Vikesh Ramsunder, he said that the digital marketing team is racially balanced, with two black people, two white people and a coloured manager. Unfortunately, the five of them combined saw nothing wrong with the advert.
It appears, Tresemmè has been sending marketing material to Clicks for years. By now they probably have a Requited Reliance Relationship, and because of that, maybe complacency crept in-The material gets routinely uploaded and maybe Clicks stopped asking questions.
The oversight was obviously not strong enough
If the marketing team at Clicks saw nothing wrong with the advert, then the team is misplaced. Marketing agencies need to constantly rotate their leadership. They should bring in different cultures and diverse ideas.
The actions taken by the freedom fighters did not go down well with Professor Thulisile 'Thuli' Madonsela.
In her recent tweet, Professor Madonsela, noted that, "Some of us can see through misogyny masquerading as protecting black women and a self interested Gucci dad middle class masquerading as protectors of the working class ".
Despite serving as the Public Protector in South Africa from 2009 to 2016, Professor Thuli 's tweet provoked the EFF duo of Flyod Shivambu, the EFF deputy president and Dr. Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, the party national political commissar.
The pair brutally attacked her personally on Twitter and accused Madonsela of racism, and even went further to question the credibility of her academic merits.
Although some social commentators believe that it was EFF's militancy that forced Clicks to take the matter seriously. Clicks has removed Tresemmè products from its shelves and has vowed to replace the brand with locally sourced haircare products.
Clicks has reacted to the pressure by suspending all the employees involved in the advertising campaign and went on to accept a senior executive resignation.
Well if Julius Malema had not called for an attack, maybe Clicks could have quietly shelved the case and offered to fund a big CSR project to silence critics-maybe!
People are tired of apologies that are materialistic in nature and not genuine at all. Consumers have rights and this time around, black consumers are the ones demanding for justice.
Now, as Africans, are we even able to solve racial inequality? Can we click racism away? How many African fighters do we need to attain our freedom?Is closing a store for five days enough to solve racial inequality? Will suspension of employees bring diversity and reform? If yes, when? Your guess is as good as mine.
Yes Clicks should be held accountable, but by who? Black women with dull hair or white women with normal hair?
To what extent can we rely on the justice system and depend on the public protectors, given Professor Thuli's views?
Benjamin Burombo
I guess Benjamin Burombo was right when he said:
"Each time I want to fight for African rights, I use only one hand-because the other hand is busy trying to keep away Africans who are fighting me".
...Until the next click, always remember, African Lives Matter!
