The decision was taken following a meeting with Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema, Unilever, and Clicks folowing nationwide outrage of a racist ad for the product on the Clicks website.
JOHANNESBURG – Unilever will withdraw all TRESemmé products from retail stores nationwide for 10 days as a demonstration of its remorse for the offensive and racist image used in its hair campaign.
The decision was taken following a meeting with Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema, Unilever and Clicks on Thursday.
Clicks was forced to close its doors following outrage over an advert that appeared on its website which labelled black women’s hair as ‘dry and damaged’.
At least 400 stores were vandalised during the nationwide protest this week after Malema instructed his supporters to “attack”.
@Clicks_SA see you tomorrow. Fellow fighters and ground forces; ATTACK!!!
— Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) September 6, 2020
Malema met with Clicks and Unilever at the party’s headquarters in Braamfontein, following three days of protests after the publishing of TRESemmé’s advert.
WATCH: EFF members protest outside Clicks store
Unilever, which owns TRESemmé has apologised to black women and agreed to withdraw its products from shelves across the country for 10 days.
In addition, Unilever will donate a minimum of 10,000 sanitary towels and sanitisers to informal settlements identified by the EFF.
However, the party and the company could not agree on the publishing of the names of people responsible for the campaign.
The EFF said it would continue to hold further discussions on transformation within Unilever relating to procurement, employment equity and localisation of products.
