Fail Dove · 2017
Three seconds of a woman changing colour
🇺🇸 United States🇬🇧 United Kingdom🇿🇦 South Africa
What happened
A Facebook clip showed a Black woman removing a brown shirt to reveal a white woman, who in turn revealed a third woman. Cropped to two frames it reproduced a soap-advertising trope in which washing turns dark skin white. Dove pulled it and apologised.
What went wrong
The full sequence had an inclusive intent; the two-frame crop is what travelled. Soap advertising specifically has a documented racist history that makes that crop instantly legible.
The rule
Assume your video will be watched as a still. Check every possible two-frame crop of a transformation sequence.
Takeaway
Category history is part of the brief. Soap, skin and 'before/after' have a past.
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