Huggies puts African-American father and daughter on diaper boxes for first time, gets praised for promoting inclusivity
The latest campaign by Huggies featuring an African-American father holding his daughter is getting a lot of positive reviews from social media.
This is the first time that the diaper-manufacturing brand has featured models of color on its packaging since its launch in 1978, the Daily Mail reported.
The company's big step toward racial inclusivity came with the release of its new line of diapers made from plant-based materials, called "Special Delivery." Unlike the more colorful packaging, the latest line hit the stores in a unique black box with the brand's logo sprawled across the top in red.
"Inspired by your perfect care for your baby, Huggies created Special Delivery, Our Perfect Diaper. Huggies Special Delivery is our softest, plant-based diaper ever, with trusted leakage protection that lasts up to 12 hours and helps to keep your baby's skin dry & comfortable. Made with plant-based materials including sugar cane and fluff pulp, Special Delivery diapers contain no harsh ingredients, are clinically proven to be hypoallergenic, and are dermatologist-tested," the product's description read on Amazon.
While many parents lauded Huggies for its new product, others were quick to appreciate model Orlondo Thompson and Soraya Lattimore, the African-American father-daughter duo on the packaging.
Joe Flowers Jr., an African-American man from Oak Forest, Illinois, was among the first ones to post pictures of the new packaging on Facebook, where it went viral, garnering over 100,000 likes and a storm of comments. "Huggies done went and put a black father on the package of their diapers," he captioned a picture of a box of diapers on Facebook. "This is a first in history[,] look how far we’ve come. I’m about to buy these for no reason whatsoever."
"My babies are all out of diapers they are big kids now but I’m going to buy this box just because it’s beautiful," wrote one mother on Facebook, praising the diaper brand, while another wrote, "Yesssss. This is amazing!!!! If u 'buy for no reason at all' you could always donate to your local diaper drive, I know salvation army offers diapers to lower-income families."
After his latest body of work got widely recognized, Thompson took to Instagram and shared his reaction. "Of all my print and commercial work, this by far is the dopest," he wrote. The model also shared a video of Lattimore getting excited after seeing a box featuring her face on the shelf of a store, which was originally posted on social media by the child's mother.
Other than Thompson and Lattimore, the Huggies campaign also features photos of other African-American models and child actors as well as women of color. As for the decision to shine the spotlight on fathers instead of mothers, Kristine Rhode, Huggies North America brand director, told USA Today, "We really believe in celebrating all parents and the great job that parents are doing. When you think about the important role that dads have in the family today and how that continues to grow, we wanted to make sure they were equally celebrated.”
