The transformation of corporates in SA has once again come under sharp scrutiny following acts of racism at retail chain stores.
Drugs retailer Clicks was yesterday forced to shut several of its stores around the country as protests escalated over its racist advertisement posted on its website depicting black hair with a caption describing it as “dry and damaged”. The advert by TRESemmé, a Uniliver brand, however, used an example of white hair, which it referred to as “fine and flat”, sparking outrage.
Both Clicks and TRESemmé have apologised for the offensive advertisement.
Though Clicks Group's board of directors is 60% black and its staff compliment is also 80% black, the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) said the representation was “a fallacy” that gives a wrong impression on transformation.
Saccawu's secretariat coordinator, Lucas Ramatlhodi said: “The Clicks CEO is on record saying about 80% of their staff is black. That should translate into the hierarchy of the leadership being fixed, which is not the case.
"[That] a company that claims to be transformed could let such [an] abhorrent and despicable advert go through onto their website tells you volumes. Any transformed company would be very sensitive to the realities of the country and the racial disharmony which is easily impacted upon by conducts of this nature,” Ramatlhodi said.
He added that though the campaign was dropped and staff members suspended, the fact that the campaign was approved raises concerns about lack of diversity and transformation among decision-makers at the retail pharmacy chain.
Nonkululeko Gobodo, an independent non-executive board member at Clicks Group said: “We have tangible examples of transformation that I’m proud to be part of. We are hanging the wrong guys here.”
Gobodo said Clicks was one of the most well-run companies she has ever been part of. “Of course we are angry as the board over this mistake, I’m angry over this advert as a black woman … Clicks is more transformed than most companies, 66.6% of exco [the executive committee] is black and 40% women and this CEO is home-grown with 25 years at Clicks. He’s not a token CEO.”
Last year, fashion retailer H&M found itself on the receiving end of a backlash following a controversial advert in which a black boy donned a hoodie written “coolest monkey in the jungle” in one of its adverts.
In February, a Dis-Chem store in Johannesburg was accused of racism after it displayed a white mannequin with a black face as part of an “African beauty marketing campaign”.
Ahmed Kathrada Foundation executive director Neeshan Balton said internal processes should be diversified enough to be able to pick up issues like this.
“If the internal processes didn’t have the kinds of people who can look at things from a different angle and to see whether or not things like these are offensive to particular communities, then obviously they wouldn’t have picked it up. I don’t know what the diversity of their [Clicks'] teams are and what the consciousness of their teams who make these decisions is,” he said.
The SA Human Rights Commission said it had initiated its own investigation into the matter and it had reached out to Clicks to “explain itself”.
Business Unity South Africa CEO Cas Coovadia said they have consistently advocated for an ethos of non-racism and an economy that is inclusive and in which the majority of South Africans have a stake.
“We call on all businesses to be particularly sensitive to racial stereotyping in SA and marketing executives must understand the particular dynamics of racism in SA. It is totally unacceptable to portray black people in a negative light, particularly given the apartheid history,” Coovadia said.
Gail Schimmel, the CEO of the Advertising Regulatory Board said they had already received 10 complaints about the Clicks advert he described as “despicable”.
Clicks CEO, Vikesh Ramsunde expressed his “deep disappointment for having allowed insensitive and offensive images to be published on our website”.
“I apologise unreservedly for the hurt and anger these images have caused ... while the images and content were provided to us by our supplier TRESemmé, this does not absolve us from blame. This is why we took accountability for this error of judgment by issuing a public apology and swiftly removing the offensive material from our website,” Ramsunder said.
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