Ancestry.com Pulls Ad Amid Backlash That It Romanticized Slavery

Source: Ancestry.com

The Utah-based genetic genealogy website also issued an apology for the ad.

Ancestry.com released an ad back in early April that recently came under fire amid accusations that it romanticized and whitewashed slavery.

The ad, titled "Inseparable," featured two "lovers" — a white man romantically pursuing a black woman in what appears to be the slave-owning South — as they run through streets and briefly find a place to hide and talk.

As the man pulls a gold ring from his pocket he says, "Abigail. We can escape to the North. There's a place we can be together, across the border."

"Will you leave with me?" he asks as the video fades into black.

The ad has since recived crticism on social media and accused of being ahistorical, considering biracial children born during slavery were often the result of black women being raped by their white slave owners.

"Why do white people insist on romanticizing my Black female ancestors experiences with white men during slavery? They were raped, abused, treated like animals, beaten, and murdered by white men. Stop with the revisions," another user wrote.

"The DNA testing industry is clearly building a robust biz model on the intergenerational trauma of being torn from ancestors and history. The Ancestry commercial is annoying, but idk if we've yet totally reckoned with what the model means and how bad it can get," another user wrote.

Following the backlash, Ancestry released the following apology.

"Ancestry is committed to telling important stories from history," the company said. "This ad was intended to represent one of those stories. We very much appreciate the feedback we have received and apologize for any offense that the ad may have caused."