Ancestry.com just pulled a highly problematic ad featuring a "love story" between an enslaved woman and a white man
Another day, another racially insensitive ad. This time, an Ancestry.com commercial has attracted attention for its highly objectionable portrayal of slavery. HuffPost reports that the company has pulled the ad, titled “Inseparable,” after many accused it of romanticizing relationships between enslaved women and white men. In the commercial, a white man offers a gold ring to a black woman named Abigail (who appears to be a slave), and asks if she will run away with him. It’s not clear how the male character knows Abigail, but the underlying assumption is that they’re in love.
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The message “without you, the story stops here,” appears on the screen, followed by a marriage certificate for Abigail Williams. According to The New York Times, the ad aired in Utah earlier in April.
Although the ad has been removed from YouTube, it’s still available on Twitter.
ooooh my god LMAOOO who approved this ancestry commercial??? pic.twitter.com/Isy0k4HTMA
— manny (@mannyfidel) April 18, 2019
Many have criticized the ad for romanticizing a violent history, pointing out that enslaved women were often raped by white slaveowners during this time period and were allowed zero autonomy over their choices or their bodies.
One of about 1,000 awful things about this commercial is it ignores the fact that for black Americans - myself included - and for others in the diaspora, DNA and documentary ancestry information is as painful and traumatic as it is illuminating. These are not love stories. https://t.co/tuTpHwmnGk
— Kimberly Atkins (@KimberlyEAtkins) April 18, 2019
I have so many questions about this @Ancestry commercial. 1) Is she his slave? 2) is this a real story? 3) is she his slave? 4) did this test well in focus groups? 5) who were in these focus groups? 6) was there no other scenario that could illuminate the value of DNA testing? https://t.co/lOBzueu3JZ
— Melissa Murray (@ProfMMurray) April 18, 2019
a more realistic ancestry commercial would be me finding the family of the white man who raped my great grandmother and none of them messaging me back https://t.co/dQJrQtQyxe
— ashley ray (@arayyay) April 19, 2019
Where @Ancestry . Com white washes the centuries long rape of black women by white supremacist slave owners & pretends it was a romanticized love story so they can now get your DNA to sell to marketing companies 😑
Smh beyond ridiculous & tone deaf.pic.twitter.com/EbmnQ3uEqC— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) April 19, 2019
There are so many issues with @Ancestry creating this Runaway commercial: 1) Ancestry hinged this spot on a white savior 2) They replaced the black male runaway trying to find freedom for black family with a white man. Effectively making slavery not about white oppression. #ados pic.twitter.com/JstCecYSI2
— Antonio Moore (@tonetalks) April 19, 2019
Some also pointed out that the ad wasn’t even historically accurate.
Dear @Ancestry
1) Neither during antebellum nor post Civil War have white men had to ‘escape’ north.
2) The white man would’ve been able to purchase Abigail, if he didn’t own her, and travel without suspicion.
3) This is insulting, disrespectful, ahistorical, & tone deaf. pic.twitter.com/awKUJuwgDz— Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) April 19, 2019
Ancestry.com apologized for the ad in a statement to HuffPost.
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Needless to say, this ad didn’t just miss the mark—it obliterated it. Please do better, world.
