Keune's Blunder, a lesson in ethnic marketing

Keune, the largest Dutch producer of hair care products, has not started the year so well. On January 7, the above call was made on the Facebook page of this company.

Where Keune's fan page gets an average of 5 replies per message, there were a whopping 238 reactions at this writing. Although there was a single positive one, the rest of the comments were not bad. Some reactions were so intense that they were deleted, but the examples below show what it is about.

Keune seems to have missed the boat. Since the first book on frizzy hair care came out 10 years ago, the rise of wearing curls and frizzy hair naturally has been unstoppable and these proud frizzy ladies are happy to speak out via social media.

Some of the comments that could be read: Yucata Lienga Wrong timing, what era are they living in? Rasheida Adrianus What a strange call Keune Haircosmetics ... If you are a bit up to date, you would notice that dark women, like the lady in the picture, are finally embracing their big curly and frizzy hair. The Natural Hair industry is becoming a gigantic booming industry, and the need for well-functioning products, especially for that type of hair, is incredibly great. I would rather look at that instead of developing a relaxer, of which there are already hundreds if not thousands, and of which more and more research shows that it is incredibly bad for your hair and scalp. I am actually quite curious, why is it chosen to develop a relaxer, now?

The counter reaction

Due to the many fierce reactions, the company seemed to realize that things were not going as planned. In addition to inviting people who had responded to come and talk at the head office, Keune also came back with the following message:

Keune Haircosmetics Thank you for all your feedback, very valuable to us!

And do we find frizzy hair beautiful? Absolutely! This image is not for nothing one of the newest Trend Collection images of 2015!

We would like to invite all ladies and gentlemen who would like to exchange thoughts with us to our head office in Soest. Send us a private message!

The photo is not really found when you google '”Keune Trend Collection 2015″ but that is not even the point. If this is the best they can come back with and want to win over the frizzy hair target group, they have once again failed miserably.

The image of Frizzy hair

Anyone with or without hair on their head knows that this is not the image that comes to mind when you talk about frizzy hair. Beautiful model, beautifully styled hair, but this is really not the target group to whom you sell relaxers and that is exactly what is wrong with this attempt at marketing.

The beautiful dark woman with gorgeous healthy frizzy hair, Lupita type, the woman you should approach when it comes to these frizzy hair products, is nowhere to be seen in the media. She is completely missing. Even when it comes to her own hair type, she can't see herself anywhere, but she is expected to open her wallet to imitate an ideal image that she is not even striving for.

Sensitive subject

What the company also missed is more subtle, a sensitive sting that is virtually unknown to Dutch marketers, but which America has had much longer experience with. To succeed in a country like America, it is essential that you listen to the sensitivities of your target group, whether or not to play on them, but from that point of view they started marketing to African Americans in the 1930s. Coca Cola was one of the first to hire Black managers to learn how to appeal to the target group and where the sensitivities lie, but beverages are a completely different area. See the following reactions:

Comments that could be read: Cuz I-am I'm really curious which self-aware, totally self-accepting, spiritual, nubian queen lends herself to this. What a shame that you come up with this! VERY BAD! I hope by the way that the model in the photo, who by the way I've never seen with her frizzy hair before, only went to take the photo and doesn't lend herself to your chemical agents. Why do we have to be DIFFERENT in your eyes?! We look perfect, thank you! Aristo KellyTo all black women with curly hair. Your natural hair is beautiful! You are gorgeous with your hair exactly as it is. And your body lives better anyway by leaving your hair exactly as it is. Now and in the long term. That magazines and media companies like to make you insecure, you should take it for granted. I have never seen that Keune has positioned itself as a company that focuses on the fashion image of the black man or woman. Take their Facebook page as a reference. They were/are not in that segment. Maybe it is because of the credit crisis that they are only trying this now. They should have done this in 1988. Marketing-wise in the current heated zeitgeist of the Netherlands, I can only advise them to hire a marketing manager who has an affinity with what is happening in the Dutch market in the socio-societal field with regard to black people. Because of this, I see a trend that the black woman has become very aware of her own image and therefore chooses natural hair. And if Keune had meant it with us, they would come with creams to make your natural hair even more pleasant in your daily busy lives. Which in particular makes your own identity come forward even more. Because mind you, we all know that your natural hair is demanding and therefore requires attention. I don't want to sound like an afro extremist, but looking at our surnames and other customs, we have already given up enough of our identity outside our sphere of influence. Make sure that your own "I" makes you happy within your sphere of influence. Have a nice evening. AK Mandy HoepelIt is typical for women to be concerned with their appearance, then you want a short haircut, curls, a color, long etc. However, Keune's call goes further than that: "be done with", "trade in", "definitively" implies that you would like to get rid of a part of yourself. At first it may seem like, oh well, it's about hair... unfortunately, there is a loaded history behind this for black women. Many of us do not find our hair beautiful enough, because it does not meet the mainstream beauty ideal. Mainstream is European/Western a la Kate Moss etc. Keune knows this and plays on it cleverly. For this reason I have put everything sharply, because they are reading along and I want to let them know that people are aware.

Any marketer looking to reach this target group in the beauty space should know that afro-textured hair is a very sensitive subject for black women.

As many as 73% suffer from relaxer-induced alopecia, which is hair loss as a result of using relaxers. The extensive explanation for this can be read in the article Bad Hair Uprooted , but in short it comes down to the fact that frizzy hairstyles are still largely not accepted in the workplace. Applying for a job with an afro is unheard of and you really can't get in with Dreadlocks. So chemicals are needed to smooth the hair and create hairstyles that are acceptable according to the Western smooth hair standard. This injustice has been a thorn in the side of Black women for centuries and this is what is changing.

Awareness, a shift in Marketing

The awareness process in America even goes a step further. The women who choose to wear their natural curly hair are a remarkably fast growing target group, which has not only caused a structural decline in the sales of relaxers, but also a general shift in the market for curly hair products. Where the biggest players used to be well-known manufacturers and men, it is now mainly Black female entrepreneurs who call the shots. Due to their years of personal experience, these women know better than anyone what the need is, which gives them a specific advantage. In addition, the current Black consumer is also very critical of who they buy from. The growing group of conscious consumers prefer to buy products from their own people than from manufacturers who have no affinity with Black culture, and only want to enrich themselves by selling products without giving anything back to the community. This trend is also clearly reflected in the reactions to Keune's message.

Full disclosure: I emailed Keune with the information that I would like to come and talk.

Update: Keune has now removed the photo and the message.