I was not kicked off the click board

JOHANNESBURG – Clicks Group non-executive director Nonkululeko Gobodo said Tuesday that she would be leaving the retail pharmacy company on principle because her recent racist announcement went against her values.

Gobodo resigned from the board on Monday.

Clicks has been at the center of angry and often violent protests after it posted a racist ad on its website labeling black hair as “dry, frizzy and damaged” and white hair as “normal.”

Last week, Gobodo said he had raised a red flag with management a few months ago over the way the company was communicating with black customers. She said Clicks alone shouldn’t fall into the ad trap, as the retailer simply posted the content that TRESemmé had created.

She said that contrary to some speculation, she was not kicked off the Clicks board, but that she couldn’t stay because of her other initiatives.

“The events of the last few days have reached a point of being in direct conflict with an initiative I started called Awakened Around Racism and Prejudice Against Women. It’s something that I’m passionate about, ”said Gobodo.

He said he was leaving Clicks because he wanted the freedom to continue with his initiatives.

“I want to be free to follow my initiatives. I don’t want to limit what I say because I am afraid of the impact on clicks. The clicks must go their way to repair the damage and I want to continue my journey of putting the issue of racism and prejudice against women firmly on the table and on the country’s agenda, ”she said.

Gobodo said she was deeply affected by the racist ad posted on the retailer’s website.

“What happened last week was very sad [and] it affected me personally. As a black woman, I felt disrespected by that advertisement and it is something that I cannot deny how deeply it affected me, ”she said.

Gobodo insisted that large corporations needed to learn to talk to black customers and acknowledge that they paid corporate bills.

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