Johannesburg – Some South Africans are praising the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) for taking action over the TRESemme advert, published on Clicks’ website, after various retailers, including the Shoprite, Dischem, Makro and Pick n Pay, removed the hair products from their stores.
The advert caused outrage after it described images of white women’s hair as “fine and normal”, whole that of black women as “dry and damaged”.
The #ThankYouEFF hashtag has been trending, following protests by the red berets at more than 400 Clicks stores. The party’s planned week-long shutdown was put to the sword by the High Court in Pretoria after the retailer was granted an interdict.
Following a meeting with Unilever South Africa representatives, the party confirmed on Thursday that the consumer good company would also withdraw TRESemme products from all retail stores for a period of 10 days.
This is a demonstration of Unilever’s remorse for the advert after it deemed it the images offensive and racist.
“However, we could not find each other on the publishing of the names of people responsible for the racist image. Moreover, the director involved in the campaign has since left the company and the country,” the EFF said in a statement.
The party added that Unilever would take disciplinary action against those remaining in the company in line with its policies.
“Upon the conclusion of the internal process, Unilever will take the EFF and the country into confidence.”
The EFF added that Unilever would donate a minimum of 10,000 sanitary pads and hand sanitises to informal settlements identified by the party.
