10 of the Most Racist Ads of All Time In American History

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Fairy Soap

N.K. Fairbank Co. was founded in 1875 and produced Fairy Soap. The ad that presumably ran in the 1940s shows a little white girl asking a Black child why her mother won’t wash her with Fairy Soap, insinuating she is Black from dirt.

 

 

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Dove

Released in 2011, the ad shows a dark-skinned woman under the “Before” sign for ugly and cracked skin and a white woman under the “After.” Dove received backlash for this, though they denied any allegations that this was the intent of the ad.

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