Italian beauty brand Layla Cosmetics has been called out for “inappropriate” and “racist” marketing in its The Longer The Better mascara marketing film.
The campaign video features CEO Babila Spagnolo among a group of six naked black men, who have had their private areas pixelated out, which adorns the message ‘The Longer The Better’ and ‘extra black’.
Consumers were quick to air their concerns about the video, which was circulated via Estée Laundry's Instagram channel.
Speaking about the video – which does not appear on Layla's own Instagram feed – one consumer said that the video shows how “racism is live in Italy” [sic].
Others called the material “vile”, while another said they were “disappointed but not surprised” by the video.
Babila, meanwhile, has added fuel to the fire in saying that she does not “understand” customers’ concerns.
In her own Instagram post, which plays the full 30 second video, she said, in Italian, that the team had “created something magnificent”.
She added: “They tell me it’s out of line. I don’t understand”.
One customer accused the beauty leader for trying to “white-splain” to the Italian black community why the video is not racist.
Another said: “What’s worse, is that her IG [Instagram] post says she doesn’t understand why it’s problematic.”