![\"\"](\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/GUARDIAN-2.jpg\")
F<\/span><\/span>rom a very young age, I\u2019ve been told, \u201cYou\u2019re so pretty \u2026 for a dark-skinned girl.\u201d I am a Nigerian woman, born in London and raised in Atlanta. I\u2019ve grown up very aware of society\u2019s opinion that dark-skinned people, especially women, would look better if our skin were lighter.<\/span><\/p>\n I know that the beauty industry has fueled this opinion with its long history of presenting lighter, mixed-race or white models as the beauty standard. Historically, and in many countries still today, darker models are even used to demonstrate a product\u2019s skin-lightening qualities to help women reach this standard.<\/span><\/p>\n This repressive narrative is one I have seen affect women from many different communities I\u2019ve been a part of. And this is why, when Dove offered me the chance to be the face of a new body wash campaign<\/a>, I jumped.<\/span><\/p>\n
I am the woman in
\nthe ‘racist Dove ad’.
\nI am not a victim<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nWhen Dove offered me the chance to be
\nthe face of a new body wash campaign,
\nI jumped. I had no idea I would
\nbecome the unwitting poster child
\nfor racist advertising<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/dove-ad-01.jpg\")
Dove\u2019s Facebook ad, since removed. \u2018If I had even the slightest inclination that I would be portrayed as inferior, or as the \u2018before\u2019 in a before and after shot, I would have been the first to say an emphatic \u2018no\u2019.\u2019 Photograph: @Naytemua<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
When Dove offered me the chance to be Dove\u2019s Facebook ad, since removed. \u2018If I had even the slightest inclination that I would be portrayed as inferior, or as the \u2018before\u2019 in a before and after shot, I would have been the first to say an emphatic \u2018no\u2019.\u2019 Photograph: @Naytemua<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nthe face of a new body wash campaign,
\nI jumped. I had no idea I would
\nbecome the unwitting poster child
\nfor racist advertising<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n