Actor John Boyega has announced he is stepping down as a brand ambassador for the British perfume and candle company Jo Malone.
Boyega’s move comes after he the brand reshot a video he created for the Chinese market and taking to his Twitter account, the Hollywood star wrote:
“I have decided to step down as Jo Malone’s global ambassador,” the Star Wars actor tweeted on Monday. “When I joined the brand as their first male global ambassador last year, I created the short film we used to launch the campaign. It won the Fragrance Foundation Virtual awards 2020 for Best Media Campaign.”
The brand has issued an apology on Saturday, September 12, 2020, for taking an advertisement Boyega created and directed as a global ambassador and replacing Boyega with actor Liu Haoran.
The result was that the ad which originally featured Boyega’s family members and his childhood neighborhood in London did not have any black persons.
See Boyega’s tweets below:
I have decided to step down as Jo Malone's global ambassador. When I joined the brand as their first male global ambassador last year, I created the short film we used to launch the campaign. It won the Fragrance Foundation Virtual awards 2020 for Best Media Campaign.
— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) September 14, 2020
While many brands understandably use a variety of global and local ambassadors , dismissively trading out one’s culture this way is not something I can condone.
— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) September 14, 2020
It’s back to back but I assure you this will be dealt with swiftly. I don’t have time for nonsense. We press on and strong. Stay blessed people ❤️
— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) September 14, 2020
See Boyega’s original video and the edited version by the brand below:
John Boyega came up with the idea for the ad, directed the short film himself, used personal experiences as the basis, so they ripped off his creative ideas and reshot his original film virtually shot-for-shot for the Chinese market!
Edit: Original left – Reshoot right. pic.twitter.com/IuQiQjxH50
— Samuel Akinosho® (@Samuel0X_) September 15, 2020
