A manufacturing company in Brazil is facing criticism after launching an ad campaign on Monday for its new brand of black Toilet Paper. The advert features a white woman, with black toilet paper wrapped around her naked body. What made things worse was the brand of Personal VIP Black toilet paper carried the controversial slogan “Black Is Beautiful.”

Iconic slogan used to sell toilet paper

As reported by RT, after the launch of the new ad campaign, Santher, based in São Paulo, Brazil, has been accused of racism over their unfortunate choice of slogan.

As can be seen in the “making of” video included below, the ad features Marina Ruy Barbosa, a Brazilian actress, who can be seen first going though makeup and hairstyling, before posing in various scenes with the black toilet paper wrapped around her body.

As can be seen in the tweet included below, part of their advertising campaign utilized the slogan “Black is Beautiful.” The slogan also spawned the hashtag #BlackIsBeautiful.

In the above tweet, Flávia Soares‏, based in Rio de Janeiro, commented to say #BlackIsBeautiful is not a cause in Brazil, it is now toilet paper, asking “where do black lives matter?”

Company accused of racism over ‘Black is Beautiful’ slogan

As the ad campaign was launched accusations flew from various commentators and black activists saying Santher was misappropriating a cultural movement which was born in the 1960s and went global.

Anderson França, a writer based in Rio de Janeiro made a lengthy post to Facebook stating that people had died in order for the expression “Black is Beautiful” to still be so important today. França said people are still dying and the expression is now even more important than ever before. However França went on to note that if you search using the hashtag #BlackIsBeautiful, all you will find is “a** paper.” His post went viral and has been shared almost 3,000 times at the time of writing, with almost 9,000 Facebook reactions and 1,300 comments.

Daniela Gomes, a black activist and journalist, also took to Twitter, saying the use of the slogan to advertise toilet paper is saying to their faces that they are “taking a sh*t" on us.”

Company apologizes for racist use of ‘Black is Beautiful.’

A noted by the Guardian, after being hit with endless criticism online, Santher made a statement on the company’s website to apologize for the use of the “Black is Beautiful” slogan, adding they had no intention to provoke a racial dispute. The statement added that the slogan has now been removed from the Personal VIP Black advertising campaign.
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