Though outrage over corporate PR disasters usually dwindles into disinterest a few days after a brand apologizes and people forget what they were mad about, it doesn’t look like the majority of Black women are so willing to forgive and forget when it comes to SheaMoisture’s latest misstep.
Though SheaMoisture acknowledged they “really f-ed up” regarding their #HairHate ad which was devoid of any model who looked like the brand’s actual consumers, Yvette Nicole Brown is adding another layer to the discussion, claiming the hair care company wasn’t interested in her promoting their products either.
During an interview with SiriusXM’s Karen Hunter, Brown likened SheaMoisture’s marketing strategy today to the TV networks of the ’90s that used Black people for financial gain and then tossed them aside. She said:
You remember back in the day when Fox Network first came on the air?…Back in the day… the first shows they had were a lot of Black shows, and they built their entire brand, their network brand, on the backs of shows like Living Single, and, I think, Homeboys from Outer Space…I don’t know, there was a whole bunch of shows, In Living Color…all of these were Fox shows, forgive me for that Homeboys, I think that might have been WB, I don’t know…but, it’s a model that they follow in network television where they will build the brand on the backs of Black people because there’s not a lot of entertainment for us, back in the day, and then once they get their numbers up, they throw us aside, and then they make it a white network, and so that happened at Fox, it happened with UPN and the WB merger…same with the CW.o I kind of thought of that when I saw [what]
So I kind of thought of that when I saw [what] Shea something [Moisture] did, because what I had in my mind…we…we were buying those products, I was buying those products from Target. I bought a whole bunch…I loved their products so much, that I wrote them and said, “Look, if you ever need me to tweet something or take a picture and hold something [up], let me know.” And, not even for money. “I just want to help you guys get your name out.” And I never heard back from anybody. But, I think they were calling somebody else to hold it up. They didn’t want me. They don’t want me to hold it up? I can’t walk through the commercial? …They didn’t want me?…and so I’m just saying that that’s the model, we’re so…and I say starved, we’re not starved, we are fully fed in mind, body, and spirit but we’re starved for attention in the mainstream for a lot of things be it entertainment, be it hair care products or whatever. We’re always the last ones that they cater to…that they use us to build build build and then they just toss us aside so I feel that…that’s what I felt and that’s what the sisters felt, and I, listen, they wrote an apology…and I have no problem with them apologizing.
I’m sure after Monday’s mishap you’re not surprised by what Brown shared. But do you agree SheaMoisture is as bad as Fox, the WB, or CW? And do you think it was wrong for the brand not to want her to promote their products?
The post Yvette Nicole Brown: I Reached Out To SheaMoisture To Promote Products For Free And “They Didn’t Want Me” appeared first on MadameNoire.