Dior has produced a fragrance called Sauvage since the mid-1960s and used Johnny Depp in recent years to promote it.
But a new advertising campaign that paired them with Native American imagery deepened wounds among a population whose ancestors were called savages and systematically killed.
The French luxury goods company posted a trailer Friday with a Lakota dancer in colorful clothing that it said embodied modern Native American culture and promised more details on the fragrance Monday.
The videos were removed from Dior’s Instagram and Twitter accounts hours later, although they still appeared on some unrelated accounts devoted to Depp.
The trailer and videos continued to generate heavy criticism. Sauvage in French has a variety of meanings, including wild, unspoiled and savage.
That takes it to a whole other level of ignorance and racism,” said Dallas Goldtooth of the Lower Sioux Indian Community in Minnesota. “You should be well aware of the implications of that word.”
Dior worked with Americans for Indian Opportunity, a respected but sometimes controversial consulting firm based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on the campaign. It’s the same group that ceremoniously adopted Depp as an honorary member of the Comanche Nation while he was filming the 2013 adaptation of The Lone Ranger.
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