Summer’s Eve is getting the cold shoulder from female bloggers who deem the brand’s Hail to the V ads racist and offensive to African American and Latina women.
MoxieBird blogger Lexa notes: “Summer’s Eve, already guilty of making women feel like their lady bits are dirty and smelly, in need of flushing out and cleaning with special, clarifying soap, has really done it this time. The ads are so flagrantly awful, my head is spinning that they made the air.”
Summer’s Eve has experienced a run-in with the female audience before, when a tongue-in-cheek print ad campaign instructed women to douche before seeking a raise.
During that incident, then-Summer’s Eve brand manager Angela Bryant responded: “We want you to know that Fleet Laboratories and the Summer’s Eve brand have the utmost respect for women. While we understand how some may come to an alternative conclusion regarding our recent ad, that was never our intention. Thank you.”
Those print ads were pulled from circulation.
Summer’s Eve director of U.S. marketing, Angela Bryant, clarifies that “this campaign is about empowerment, changing the way women may think of the brand, and removing longstanding stigmas: Summer’s Eve is not a means to confidence, rather it’s a celebration of confidence, of being a woman, and taking care of their bodies.”
What do you think?
