Evidence has emerged on the reasons behind the termination of the relationship between Shoprite/Checkers Group and Unilever’s TRESemmé brand leading to the ongoing removal of the products from their almost 3000 stores on the African continent. The controversy made the news during the week when a spokesperson for the Shoprite/Checkers Group said: “We can confirm that TRESemmé products have been removed from sale in our stores”.
The Shoprite Group, which owns stores such as Checkers, Checkers Hyper, Shoprite and the U-Save brands, is the second group after the Clicks Group earlier made a similar announcement that it was dumping the TRESemmé and replacing it with local haircare products. This comes after a TRESemmé advert on the Clicks website depicted black women’s hair as frizzy, dull, dry and damaged, while it described white hair as normal, fine and flat.
The ad spurred the EFF to descend on hundreds of Clicks stores around the country in protest and on Wednesday, Clicks stores around the country were shut to allow workers counseling after some had allegedly been intimidated during protests. Clicks also secured an interim court interdict which prevented the EFF from threatening or intimidating Clicks staff and customers. The interdict allows for peaceful protest.
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Clicks has also committed to work with the government to develop the local beauty market. An unnamed senior executive at Clicks is said to have resigned, while non-executive director Nonkululeko Gobodo, called on the company to name the senior executive and also implored Unilever to name the ad agency and TRESemmé executives who were responsible for the ad which has had damaging consequences for several brands – not least Clicks, TRESemmé and Unilever.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry