Dior’s Native American-themed Cologne, Sauvage, has been Considered as Racism.
Luxury fashion house Dior’s faces backlash over its newest cologne advertisement. The French company has been accused of racism after naming their latest cologne Sauvage which means “wild” or “savage” in French. Also, they have gone to the lengths of using a native American, Johnny Depp, as their face of the advertisement. This action has not been taken lightly by the Native Americans who have highly considered this as an insensitive act of racism. The act of using a native American as the face of the advertisement has filled the native Americans with rage and the pain of being criticized by Dior. However, Dior has tried to defend itself by saying that the entire campaign was supervised and co-starred by native Americans. They strongly say that they had native Americans as their consultants, and therefore they thought it was okay to start the campaign.
Dior’s ad video of the $150 Sauvage cologne shows Johnny Depp stacking rocks to mark his path while walking at south-western Utah in the amid of red rocks as a Native American fancy war dancer. The critics and scholars have responded to this campaign and said that it is a clear cut case of appropriation and so racist. The action of Dior using a native American as the face of a very racist campaign has raised many criticisms from the native Americans. The native Americans say that Dior wanted to attract attention by advertising their cologne using such a racist campaign so that they can sell more. This racist campaign has not only offended the native Americans, but the whole globe hates Dior as well as France. Due to this action, the social relationship between the French and the native Americans has been jeopardized. Currently, there is absolute hatred between the French and the native Americans. Regarding the tweets by the angry native Americans towards Dior, ultimate hate has been expressed towards the company. Most of these angry native Americans have said that they will never purchase any fragrance from the luxury fashion house, Dior.
To sum up, the hate expressed to Dior by the native Americans, should lead a great example to other companies when considering the choice of materials for public advertisements. This is to avoid backlash from a particular social group and the whole globe. Therefore, racist campaigns should be avoided in all ways.