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By Shakirah Thebus 
9h ago
Cape Town – Sixteen protesters were arrested in Stellenbosch after protesting outside a Clicks store on Thursday.
This comes after major retailers announced that they are abandoning TRESemmé, the American brand of hair care products, following widespread outrage over an offensive ad being displayed on the Clicks website.
The EFF led an unprecedented nationwide protest at around 425 of the 880 Clicks stores earlier in the week over the ad showing black women’s hair as frizzy, dull, dry, and damaged, while describing hair. of white women as normal, fine and flat.
Shoprite Checkers, Pick n Pay, Dis-Chem, Woolworths and Makro have decided to join Clicks to remove the products of TRESemmé SA, owned by Unilever, from their supplier lists.
“Given recent concerns about the language used by TRESemmé to advertise its product line, we have decided to remove the products from our shelves while we engage with the supplier,” said a Pick n Pay spokesperson.
Shoprite’s media team confirmed that all TRESemmé products have been recalled from their shelves.
“We have confirmed that all TRESemmé products have been removed from our shelves. The decision was made on Tuesday and was implemented in our stores nationwide, ”said health and beauty retailer Dis-Chem on its Twitter page.
“Woolworths has made the decision to remove all TRESemmé products from our shelves with immediate effect. As a company, we are deeply aware of our responsibility to address racial disparities and prejudices when they are identified. We do not support the racial prejudice expressed in the TRESemmé campaign, ”said a Woolworths spokesperson.
Although the Clicks Group received an injunction against EFF to prevent further protests on Tuesday, riots were reported at various Clicks stores on Wednesday and yesterday.
EFF leader Julius Malema met with Unilever representatives at the EFF headquarters in Joburg yesterday morning.
In a previous statement, the EFF said the meeting “comes at the request of Unilever, after the EFF gave its subsidiary product TRESemmé 24 hours to account for the racist advertisement they produced.”
The EFF said it would continue protests across the country while engaging with Clicks and Unilever.
In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the EFF and Unilever agreed that the ad was offensive and racist.
Unilever did not agree to a demand from the EFF that the names of the people responsible for the advertisement be made public, but the director involved in the campaign had left the company and the country, according to the statement.
“The following decisions were agreed upon as a way forward: Unilever said it would withdraw TRESemmé SA products from all retail stores for a period of 10 days” as a demonstration of its remorse for the offensive and racist image “and that they would donate a minimum of 10,000 sanitary pads and disinfectants for informal settlements identified by EFF.
“In line with the above, the EFF and Unilever have put an end to the matter at hand. We have agreed to hold further transformation discussions within Unilever in relation to acquisitions, empowerment, employment and localization, ”the joint statement said.
Some of the resolutions taken were: The withdrawal of all TRESemmé products, replaced by locally produced products; Clicks will donate a minimum of 50,000 sanitary pads and 50,000 disinfectants and masks to the rural and informal settlements identified by the EFF.
Clicks will also award a scholarship to five students to obtain pharmaceutical degrees by 2021. All scholarships will be awarded to black, rural, and HIV / AIDS-orphaned African women.
EFF Councilor in the City Council, Mbulelo Dwane, said: “We fully comply with what the organization has decided with Unilever. We will continue our peaceful protest until the collective leadership of the EFF orders us otherwise. We are busy protesting and shutting down all clicks until further notice from the leadership. “
Police spokesman Andrè Traut confirmed that 16 protesters were arrested yesterday in Stellenbosch for violating a court order after they protested in front of a Clicks store. One of the protesters also faces a charge of assaulting a police officer.
“Once charged, the people arrested must appear in court in Stellenbosch,” Traut said.
Cape argus
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