Clicks has found itself on the wrong side of social media users in South Africa after haircare categories on their website went viral.
The page has since been removed by the company, but screenshots have been shared widely.
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The screenshots show various haircare categories, such as “dry and damaged hair”, “frizzy and dull hair”, and “normal hair”, displayed on the Clicks website.
Notably, the categories for damaged and dull hair include images of black women’s hair. Meanwhile, the “normal hair” category shows a white woman’s hair.
mhmmm idk hey… pic.twitter.com/a1VgxThTBh
— the neverending W (@pelomasebe) September 3, 2020
After these images were shared, Clicks became the top trend on South African Twitter. Users mentioned the brand in over 23 500 tweets at the time of writing.
Clicks has since issued an apology, saying that it goes against their advocacy for natural hair.
We would like to issue an unequivocal apology. We have removed the images, which go against everything we believe in. We are strong advocates of natural hair and are deeply sorry we have offended our natural hair community. We will put in place stricter measures on our website.
— Clicks (@Clicks_SA) September 4, 2020
The company also said that it does not condone racism. Clicks published the apology on its Facebook page too.
Hi we are deeply sorry we have offended our natural hair community. We have removed the images, which go against everything we believe in at Clicks. We do not condone racism and are strong advocates of natural hair. We will put in place stricter measures on our website.
— Clicks (@Clicks_SA) September 4, 2020
In response to the issue, some users have promised to boycott the brand.
Other users asked for more accountability, saying that the incident reflects a lack of diversity on the teams responsible for this advertising.
Clicks and all these other companies that wanna issue apologies when they post kak, just goes to show the lack of transformation in marketing and advertising spaces.
— Ling Hottentot Dior (@LingDeeYoh) September 4, 2020
"removed the images which go against everything we believe in". How did it make it into your website in the very first place? What kind of excuse is this.
— AZuluHeiress
(@Daughter2Shaka) September 4, 2020
Meanwhile, others posted images of black women’s hair with positive adjectives rather than the negative ones included in the Clicks listing.
What Clicks calls Damaged Hair… What we call beautiful #RacismMustFall pic.twitter.com/O3wlFkQs3n
— Kinini (@ukhanyi_n) September 4, 2020
Clicks called this crown dry and damaged, my babies, ya'll need to have your eyes checked out pic.twitter.com/lcJ6FWL8iM
— quaranqueen (@Tineo_97) September 4, 2020
The hashtag #RacismMustFall also began trending in response to the hair listing.
Feature image: Screenshot
