Culture

Burt’s Bees Apologizes For Holiday Ad Featuring Black Family Without A Father

Burt’s Bees has apologized for a holiday ad featuring families that many are calling careless and offensive.

Published

4 years ago

November 23, 2020

Unheard Voices Staff

Burt's Bees

Burt’s Bees has apologized for a holiday ad that many are calling careless and offensive.

Table of Contents

Burt’s Bees ad causes outrage

The Amazon ad features families in holiday traditional matching pajamas. But if you haven’t seen the ad, you might be wondering what the uproar was all about.

The outrage stems from the company slovenly representing a stereotype. The Black family was photographed without a father, compared to their counterparts pictured.

Apology

The brand tweeted an apology Thursday after receiving a great deal of backlash.

Burt’s Bees Apologizes For Offensive Holiday Ad Featuring Black Family

Burt’s Bees Twitter Screenshot

“We are so deeply sorry. We have learned a lot this year about impact and intent. Our intent was never to promote an awful stereotype about black families or to inflict hurt upon anyone. We understand that even so, there is an impact and this image causes harm,” the company said.

Burt’s Bees said real families were photographed and claims that the photoshoot conflicted with the Black dad’s work schedule.

“We promise that this one post is not indicative of our core values, and we hope that you’ll see that by diving deeper into our website and our social channels,” the statement continued.

Related Topics:race relations racism

Up Next

Central Park Five’s Yusef Salaam Writing Memoir About His Wrongful Imprisonment

Don't Miss

Juanita Holmes Named NYPD’s First Woman Chief of Patrol

Unheard Voices Staff

Unheard Voices is an award-winning news magazine that started in 2004 as a newsletter in the Asbury Park, Neptune, and Long Branch, NJ areas to broadening into a recognized Black online media outlet. The company is one of the few outlets dedicated to covering social justice issues. They are the recipient of the NAACP Unsung Hero Award and CV Magazine's Innovator Award for Best Social Justice Communications Company.