'Racist' Dior ad for new perfume starring Johnny Depp sparks outrage

The campaign for men's fragrance Sauvage is culturally inappropriate, say critics

A new ad for a Dior men's fragrance called Sauvage, in which Depp appears, sparked outrage for its use of Native American culture and symbols. AP Photo

A new Dior perfume ad starring Hollywood actor Johnny Depp has this weekend been criticised for appropriating Native American culture.

The trailer for the $150 (Dh367) men’s fragrance called Sauvage also features the Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s Canku One Star, a Fancy War dancer dressed in a traditional outfit. It shows Depp walking in Utah, as the dancer performs on a cliff as a woman – played by Tanaya Beatty, a Canadian actor of First Nations descent – follows from afar. Depp also plays a famous riff by Shawnee musician Link Wray on guitar.

The film is called We Are the Land and is described in the French fashion house’s marketing materials as an ‘ode to Mother Earth’, adding that the inclusion of the dancer is meant to be ‘a powerful tribute to this culture, portrayed with immense respect’.

That is not how it has been perceived, however. Scholars and critics have deemed the campaign completely racist.

"It is so deeply offensive and racist," said Crystal Echo Hawk, chief executive of network IllumiNative, reports the Guardian. "I don't know how anyone in 2019 can think a campaign like this can go down well."

April Reign, creator of the #OscarsSoWhite campaign, also weighed in on Twitter. "On its face, this is horrible," she wrote. "Then you confirm the name: Sauvage. Like 'savage', but fancier. THEN I clicked through… and Johnny Depp is the face of this. Depp, who immersed himself in cultural appropriation with Tonto," she says in reference to the criticism the actor drew for his portrayal of the Native American character in Disney's 2013 remake of The Lone Ranger.

Reign added: “@dior”, you can’t be serious.”

Other commenters also slammed the name of the product.

However, in response for requests for a comment by various media outlets, Dior has sent out a press release from non-profit Americans for Indian Opportunity, which says it collaborated with the brand, music video director Jean-Baptiste Mondino and Depp on the campaign, providing advice to ensure 'authentic inclusion of Native American images in the film promoting Depp’s signature parfum’.

They aimed to move ‘away from cliches in order to avoid the cultural appropriation and subversion that so often taints images representing Native peoples’, it says.

The release also says it made Depp an honorary citizen of the Comanche Nation in 2012.

Dior has since removed its tweet and all references to the campaign across its social media platforms.