So this is a thing that happened:
The product being advertised isn’t skin bleach. It is lotion.
Along the same line, here is another Dove gem from 2011:
Even the packaging gets in on the game:
Nothing new about this, of course. Washing the black off is an old trope for personal hygiene products.
Dove’s apology for the ad of the black woman transforming into a white one was pretty pathetic. As described by The Independent:
...and Dove has apologised – albeit with the usual evasiveness that follows a shamefully insensitive display by a big brand. The cosmetics company insisted: “We deeply regret the offence it caused.” Needless to say, this choice of wording does not suggest, “We deeply regret creating this advert in the first place”, but rather, “We deeply regret how you all responded to it.”