Mielle Organics Faces Backlash Over ‘Weak & Dull’ Afro Hair Ad

Mielle Organics is facing backlash after a recent advertisement for its Rosemary Mint collection appeared to frame natural Afro-textured hair as something that needed fixing. The split-image campaign showed a Black woman with a fuller Afro labelled “weak & dull” before presenting a more elongated, defined look as “shiny & strong.” Critics quickly accused the brand of reinforcing the same beauty standards the natural hair movement has spent years challenging.

The criticism is particularly uncomfortable for Mielle because textured hair is not some side market the company stumbled into. It is the foundation of the brand. Founded by Monique Rodriguez in 2014, Mielle has built its identity around products for curls, coils and textured hair, while its own mission says it wants customers to wear their hair with confidence and pride.

Its Rosemary Mint range is one of the company’s best-known collections, marketed around strengthening, conditioning and improving the appearance of healthy hair. So when an ad places a full Afro under “weak & dull” and a more defined, elongated texture under “shiny & strong,” the problem is not difficult to understand. Whatever message Mielle intended about hair health, the visual language still reinforces an older idea about which Black hair textures society treats as more desirable.

Mielle has since apologized for the campaign. According to TheGrio, the company said the imagery had been rejected internally before it was published and acknowledged that the final message did not reflect the brand’s values.

Why the Ad Hit a Nerve With Black Consumers

The reason why the reaction has gone beyond complaints about a badly designed ad is because for many Black consumers, this touches directly on texturism, a hierarchy that has historically rewarded looser, shinier and more easily manipulated textures while treating tightly coiled Afro hair as less polished or less acceptable.

The timing also adds another layer. Mielle joined P&G Beauty in 2023 after growing into one of the most recognisable Black-founded textured-hair brands in the market. The company said at the time that it would remain Black-led and continue serving Black women. Three years later, an advertisement that appears to place natural Afro hair on the “before” side of a beauty transformation is inevitably going to raise questions about whether the brand still understands the community that made it successful.

This Is Not Mielle’s First Backlash Since the P&G Deal

This controversy did not appear out of nowhere. Since P&G acquired Mielle Organics in 2023, the brand has faced repeated criticism from customers who claim some of its products caused shedding, breakage and scalp problems. Those complaints went viral in 2024, particularly around the Rosemary Mint range. Mielle has denied changing the formulas after the acquisition and says its products continue to undergo safety and quality testing.  

The complaints also moved beyond TikTok. A proposed class-action lawsuit filed in 2024 alleged that Mielle’s Rosemary Mint products caused hair loss and scalp injuries. The court later dismissed the case without prejudice in 2025 because the plaintiffs did not plead their fraud claims with enough specificity. The court therefore did not find that Mielle’s products caused the alleged injuries.

Another proposed class action followed in 2025, challenging marketing claims made about Mielle’s Rosemary Mint oils. The plaintiffs later voluntarily dismissed that case.

That history is why this latest ad is landing so badly. On its own, one clumsy campaign could be dismissed as a marketing mistake. But after years of complaints, distrust and arguments over what changed after the P&G acquisition, Mielle no longer gets the benefit of the doubt from everyone.

At some point, repeated controversy begins to raise questions about whether the problem is bigger than one badly judged campaign. That is why some consumers are now questioning whether controversy itself has become part of the brand’s marketing cycle