After complaints appeared on social media about an Ancestry ad whitewashing slavery, the company apologized and pulled its ad from its YouTube channel and was in the process of removing it from television.
The ad appeared earlier this month, but as BuzzFeed first reported, it didn’t draw much attention until critics on social media began sharing it in outrage this week.
The ad was intended to encourage more African Americans to take a DNA test, but it backfired.
Megan Molteni writes in Wired that Ancestry needs a larger DNA database of African Americans to help determine more accurate ethnicity. “And because DNA databases like Ancestry’s are so overwhelmingly white, they tell a much vaguer origin story for African Americans than for European immigrants who settled in the US.”
In the ad, entitled “Inseparable,” a white man and a black woman, described in a caption as “lovers,” are seen trying to go unnoticed while running through the streets to escape the American South during the slavery era.
“Abigail,” the man tells the woman as he pulls a gold ring from his pocket. “We can escape to the North. There’s a place we can be together, across the border.”
“Will you leave with me?” he asks as the video fades into black.
As the video ends, a stylized Canadian marriage certificate for the two characters, dated 1857, appears and the voice over urges the viewer to “uncover the lost chapters of your family history with Ancestry.”
In response, Ancestry tweeted an apologize that comes across as a non-apology: “Ancestry is committed to telling important stories from history. This ad was intended to represent one of those stories. We very much appreciate the feedback we have received and apologize for any offense that the ad may have caused.”
Lessons to learn
Tiffany Black, who was an Ancestry employee until January and not involved in the making of the ad, said “There are some valuable lessons to be learned from this controversial situation.”
Her article, Lessons Learned From Ancestry’s “Inseparable” Ad, is one of the best assessments of the controversy. She does not lash out at Ancestry. Instead, she makes recommendations on what the company should do going forward.
She writes, “This ad could be and should be a case study in any marketing, advertising, communications or business class.”
In her closing paragraphs, she writes, “I say all of this to say that everyone makes mistakes and this is an opportunity for growth. I loved my time at Ancestry. I’m no longer an employee but I am a customer and I still believe in the value of what Ancestry offers.”
It sailed right over my head!! All I could think of was, finally they are saying something about a country other than the USA…
PS– My mother was Canadian
Great article. I had assumed that Abigail was free and living in the Northern US where their relationship still wasn’t accepted – but that’s me. The article helped me to see that the majority likely assumed she was a slave and would have seen it as a romanticization. Regardless of whether the story was true, in the wider context of the realities of that period, it was a tone-deaf ad that should never have been made. Thanks for highlighting the article!!