Clicks Group CEO Vikesh Ramsunder has published an open letter and haircare brand TRESemmé has apologised for its role in the Clicks ad that went viral last week.
However, pickets continue outside Clicks stores in response to the advertisement, which pictured a black woman’s hair as “dry and damaged” and a white woman’s hair as “normal”.
No ad to show here.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) called for a shutdown of Clicks stores following the controversy on Friday. On Monday, numerous party members prevented people from entering Clicks stores.
Apologies continue
In response to the continued criticism, Clicks Group CEO Vikesh Ramsunder has published an open letter apologising for the images.
“I am deeply disappointed that we allowed insensitive and offensive images to be published on our website. I apologise unreservedly for the hurt and anger these images have caused,” Ramsunder said in the letter.
“The emotive responses of our customers have been mirrored by our employees and management teams.”
He also identified haircare brand TRESemmé as the source of the images for the hair advert. However, he said that this does not absolve Clicks from blame.
Meanwhile, the Clicks employees involved have been suspended.
“Already, the negligent employees have been suspended, and we have engaged the supplier, who has now also issued an apology,” Ramsunder said.
He added that auditing for promotional material will be urgently implemented, as well as diversity and inclusivity training for head office employees.
But he noted that the company needs to do more in terms of transformation.
“We have done a lot in terms of transformation. This issue has clearly highlighted that we have a lot more to do,” he said.
TRESemmé apologises for Clicks hair ad
TRESemmé has also apologised for the images used in the marketing campaign for the brand.
“We are very sorry that images used in a TRESemmé South Africa marketing campaign on the Clicks website promote racist stereotypes about hair,” the company said.
“The campaign set out to celebrate the beauty of all hair types and the range of solutions that TRESemmé offers, but we got it wrong.”
The brand also apologised to Clicks Group.
Clicks continues to trend on social media
The hashtag #Clicks was the top trend on Twitter on Monday. This resulted from continued attention on the brand, as well as EFF shutdowns of Clicks stores.
Other trending topics on Twitter included “racism”, “Julius Malema”, and #EFFMustRise.
#Clicks EFF members have started to gather at some stores. Here some members are already at the Thabong mall in Sebokeng. pic.twitter.com/d6GBhWnCI3
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) September 7, 2020
Julius Malema says #Clicks Mall of the North committed to closed down for the whole week. PM #EFF pic.twitter.com/RATwVlz3KN
— CapricornFM News (@CapricornFMNews) September 7, 2020
Twitter users also continued to share their reaction to the ad campaign, questioning how the issue was not spotted.
so not even a single person who's part of the #Clicks marketing team realized that the Ad was off, before putting it out there? An ENTIRE team sat together n agreed that it's good to https://t.co/uU5Qu3O13A pic.twitter.com/luT0DLok4q
— Caroline Seabi (@GlamfairPlk) September 7, 2020
Meanwhile, other users shared images of black hair and expressed pride in their natural hair.
Good afternoon Clicks. This is who we are. "Today it feels good to be An African". #Clicks. pic.twitter.com/KflGnnmyzu
— Sophie Mokoena (@Sophie_Mokoena) September 6, 2020
This is how young women, using their agency, have chosen to tackle the #Clicks #BlackHairMatter. I read their action as a call to #Clicks and others to examine their perceptions of #BlackHair and black women’s beauty. I consider the action to be #Epicleadership and cerebral https://t.co/qzHM7oLjPL
— Prof Thuli Madonsela (@ThuliMadonsela3) September 7, 2020
Feature image: Screenshot
