A CHRISTMAS TV ad featuring a Black woman with natural hair is set to be screened this weekend, a first for British television.

The ad, called Get It Right This Christmas,  was produced by natural Afro hair care brand Afrocenchix after the company was approached by Channel 4. The broadcaster was keen to have a more diverse range of businesses that advertised on the channel.

It will air on the channel this weekend and will run for the month of November.

The 30 second commercial tells the story of a woman who is struggling to get her naturally coiled tresses in shape for a Christmas Day party. Her comb and bristle brush are ineffective, much to her frustration. But when a friend sends her an Afrocenchix present, her kinky curls get the boost they need.

The products give her hair a new lease on life, allowing her to “unleash newfound confidence for her big debut”.

“The narrative is all about this woman’s journey and it’s a story that really captures an experience that we’ve all been through” said Afrocenchix co-founder and CEO Rachael Twumasi-Corson. “You’re trying to get ready, your hair isn’t what you want it to be and then you end up making do. This time the solution comes from a brand that understands the unique needs of people with Afro and curly hair.”

Twumasi-Corson said she was well aware of the importance of Get It Right This Christmas being more than just a TV ad. The fact that the Afro haircare market is worth over $42 billion and growing rapidly is seemingly lost on mainstream ad agencies who have rarely understood the need for positive portrayals of women with Afro hair.

“We’re really happy to be able to put a relatable story about hair and positive representation on television with this ad” said Twumasi-Corson.

“It’s been a long time coming.  We are really excited to see the vision that we’d worked on for such a long time come to life. It’s a 30-second ad but people won’t see the months of hard work that goes into it. And Aicha Therese, an up-and-coming poet who worked with us on the project, did a brilliant job. She really understood the brief.”

There is this narrative that Black people don’t support Black businesses which is simply not true

 
Rachael Twumasi-Corson, Afrocenchix

Over the last few years, there has been an increase in the number of major Christmas TV ads that have featured Black, Asian, and multiracial families. This has prompted equality campaigners to highlight this trend as a positive one that could lead to greater diversity on television.

However ads featuring black characters have sparked a backlash. Last year, for example, Sainsbury’s defended its Christmas ad featuring a Black family after viewers complained it did not represent them while others threatened to boycott the supermarket. Sainsbury’s responded that it aimed to “represent a modern Britain, which has a diverse range of communities”.

While aware of the possibility there might be a backlash Twumasi-Corson said she believed in the positive impact that ads like Get It Right This Christmas could have on younger viewers especially. She also expressed her hope that Black viewers would support it by helping to make it go viral.

“There is this narrative that Black people don’t support Black businesses which is simply not true” said Twumasi-Corson.

“We’ve seen the support there has been for Black businesses through events like Black Pound Day. Afrocenchix would not exist if it were not for Black customers.  If you look at how the ad was put together, the majority of the  production team behind it were black, the cast was Black. That’s a powerful message.

“Supporting Afrocenchix means that the profits from our Christmas sales will be used to hire more people from underrepresented backgrounds and launch new products for our community.”

Afrocenchix was founded by said Twumasi-Corson and fellow  entrepreneur Joycelyn Mate who met at university in 2008. The pair were frustrated with the lack of product for Afro hair. Many claimed to work but didn’t, while the pair found that many contained chemicals to increase their shelf life, smell nice and keep costs as low as possible.

The unavailability of reliable Afro hair products was a source of constant frustration for the two friends. Many of those that they tried didn’t work as effectively as they claimed. They also contained dangerous chemicals which helped to extend their shelf life and keep their prices low.

Their search for the ideal solution to “make natural simple” came to an end when they decided to collaborate and manufacture their own products. And they were determined that the ingredients they used would not be harmful to people or the environment. Stars such as Stormzy and Mel B are among its celebrity supporters.

Major investors have shared the pair’s vision. In July Afrocenchix announced it had raised $1.2m in investment to grow the business. Among its investors were Google; Nalden, who  founded WeTransfer and venture capital firms Impact X Capital and Cornerstone Partners.

“The money has allowed us to expand our team” said Twumasi-Corson. “We now have a team of fourteen people and it’s also allowed us to create Mxche, the Afrocentric chatbot, something that we’ve dreamed of doing since we started the company.”