The advert by Nivea has been shown specifically in African countries – Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Senegal, reported The Independent.
Miss Nigeira Omowunmi Akinnifesi, who stars in the 33-second ad, can be seen applying the Nivea cream on to her arms, which turn lighter as the cream makes contact with her skin.
In the video she says that “visibly fairer skin” makes her feel younger.
A clip of the ad was posted by William Adoasi from London, UK with the caption: “This is why black businesses need to rise up and cater for our needs. Nivea can’t get away with pushing this skin lightening agenda across Africa. Appalling.”
The post quickly went viral with more Twitter users expressing their shock and fury.It’s not Nivea pushing the agenda, they’re taking advantage of a mindset a lot of African people already have. It’s still sick tbh
— DopeLatina (@HannahMixdChick) October 18, 2017
Others believed that Nivea is only targeting a market that has been created by the very people criticising it.
African women internalizing what they've been taught from birth by white male colonizers, media, & black men is obvs their fault. Duh. pic.twitter.com/POobOWIUNo
It is not the first time there has been backlash over a Nivea ad.
Racist #Nivea advert reads 'White is Purity'... sad that it's still selling in african Malls. But wait who owns the malls? #Shamepic.twitter.com/7sLe9KsnDrTheir “White is purity” ad was pulled in April this year after social media users pointed out that their ad was discriminative.
Nivea has not yet commented on or taken down their advert.
Sources: Twitter, The Independent, The Daily Mail