Popular toothpaste brand White Glo issues grovelling apology after new ad campaign was lashed as 'tone deaf'
A popular teeth-whitening brand has been lashed for a 'tone-deaf' advertising campaign which some Aussies claim has racist connotations.
White Glo's advertisements, spotted on buses, trams and trains in Melbourne and Sydney, feature the slogan 'Make the white choice'.
Some viewers were offended by the phrase, which they claimed inferred 'white' was a more fashionable choice over 'black'.
Communications strategist Kriti Gupta said the advertisements were 'not about what the brand meant, it's about how audiences read it'.
'Phrases like this aren't neutral. They come with baggage. The association of whiteness with purity, cleanliness, or correctness has been baked into advertising and media for decades and is often used to exclude or diminish anything that doesn't fit the white mainstream,' she told news.com.au.
The company has been criticised for the ads online, with Aussies lashing the campaign as 'casually racist' and 'old fashioned'.
'White Glo, you may want to double check who's doing your marketing,' one person said in a video with almost 130,000 views.
Melbourne-based activist Jeff Kissubi said the ads were out of touch.
'This is not only tone-deaf but very ignorant on the brand's part to miss the mark. In 2025, the lack of cultural awareness around these things is astonishing,' he said.
'Language shapes power and erases Indigenous, Black, and POC voices. Let's call out harmful messaging and demand accountability.'
But other observers said they didn't see the problem with the ad.
'People are too sensitive. There is no hidden message, unless you want your teeth any colour except white,' one said.
'How does this even equate to racism? What am I missing?' a second asked.
White Glo has apologised for the campaign, but insisted the ads were 'purely about teeth whitening, with no other intended meaning'.
'Our ads feature the tagline "Make the White Choice" which is intended to be a wordplay on "Make the Right Choice", to highlight the effectiveness and reliability of our products, versus some less effective products we are seeing emerge in the market,' a statement read.
'Whilst this campaign was accepted by Australia's Advertising Regulator in April, the response in the last couple of days has indicated that we have missed the mark.'
White Glo Director Jeffrey Wong said the company was working to remove the ads, adding the company had a 'very multicultural staff and management team'.
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