Wednesday, September 09, 2020

Shoprite Group, Pick n Pay (PnP) and Woolworths have decided to remove TRESemmé products from their retail stores.

This comes after TRESemmé, a Uniliver brand, stirred public outrage with its racist tropes advertisement that appeared on the Clicks’ website.

The advert displayed a black woman’s hair as dull and damaged while portraying the white woman’s hair as normal.

After days of national protests and sporadic violence in different outlets, Clicks delisted the TRESemme brand.

Among its startegies to restore its reputation and appease the public, Clicks said it will replace the battered TRESemmé brand with local haircare products.

It [TRESemmé] will no longer be available nationwide in all the Shoprite Group’s flagship stores including Shoprite, Checkers and U-Save.

Given that Shoprite is the biggest retailer of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) in Africa, this is the biggest blow for TRESemmé yet.

Public protests were largely organised by the EFF (Economic Freedom Fighters) calling for the boycott and removal of the controversial brand. Some on the demands were the idenfication of the creators of the advert and those associated with it.