The Black-owned business, Honey Pot, has been receiving a lot of backlash for their allegedly "racist" Target television commercial. The plant-based feminine care company started by Beatrice Dixon has partnered with Target to provide women with a line of all-natural feminine hygiene products that have been flying off the shelves since the brand's launch in 2014. While the brand has grown tremendously over the past half-decade, the white consumer base didn't take too kindly to Dixon's comments in their latest television ad.
In the commercial, an excited Dixon walks through a Target retail store to view her products displayed on the shelves. Towards the end of the advertisement, the self-made entrepreneur says, "The reason why it’s so important for Honey Pot to do well is so that the next black girl that comes up with a great idea, she can have a better opportunity," she said. "That means a lot to me."
While Dixon was just being honest in her assessment of her own brand, some white people didn't appreciate that she specifically wanted to encourage young women of color to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. After trending on the internet for multiple days, Beatrice Dixon stopped by Power 105.1's The Breakfast Club on Thursday (Feb. 5 ) to discuss the recent backlash she's been facing from a small sector of the white community.
During the interview, Dixon explained why she made that comment specifically stating:
"My reasoning for saying that is because of the disparities that are happening in the venture capital world. We get less than 1% of funding—we get 0.06% of funding. I’m one of only 50 black women that have raised more than a million dollars. Think about that. … If we are not selling businesses, we are not scaling businesses, black wealth can literally die. That’s the reason why we have to be successful."
Dixon continued to defend her comments saying:
"A lot has happened... We’ve been inundated with emails, we’ve been inundated with social media posts, bad reviews but not on the product. (White people) said that I was racist—and guess what? That’s their opinion. I know I’m not racist. … They called for their people not to buy [Honey Pot] and support it. We didn’t even really have to say much because our beloved customers formed like Voltron and just got in there. Not only did they reverse like a one-and-a-half, two-and-a-half star on Trustpilot, but it went to like 4.9 stars. The shelves have just been ravished. Everything’s poppin’ online and everywhere else."
While Honey Pot continues to sky-rocket in terms of global sales, this particular outrage will soon be irrelevant as Dixon and her company continues to provide women with the hygiene necessities that have become highly-coveted over the years. Check out Beatrice Dixon's full interview with The Breakfast Club in the video provided below as well as The Breakfast Club's interview with Joe Budden's State of the Culture collective, here.