gap with locally sourced hair care brands. National retail chains Shoprite/Checkers, Pick n Pay, Makro, Dis-Chem and Woolworths also announced their intention to remove all TRESemmé products from their shelves. On September 10, the EFF released a joint statement with Unilever South Africa on Twitter where they announced Unilever's decision to remove all its TRESemmé products from all retailers for 10 days as a show of remorse, conduct an internal investigation into the campaign, and take disciplinary action on those involved. The statement also said that the director involved in the campaign left the company and country The intent behind the damaging advertisement is not universally regarded as purposely malicious and neither Clicks nor TRESemmé consider its racial undertone to be intentional. TRESemmé issued an apology in September 2020, stating that "the campaign set out to celebrate the beauty of all hair types and the range of solutions that TRESemmé offers" and that "we got it wrong". Commenting on the controversy, black television personality Somizi Mhlongo said that there may be some truth in the TRESemmé ad, noting "The hair that they showed is the hair that looks like what happens when we relax our hair. My hair right now is not natural, it has chemicals, it’s damaged." Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week TRESemmé was the official hair care sponsor of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week 2014 in New York in February, and had been since 2006. TRESemmé created a team called "Runway Insiders" that included American model and DJ Harley Viera-Newton. Awards Awards won by the TRESemmé brand include: Cosmopolitan Beauty Award 2010 Allure Best of Beauty Award 2010 Cosmopolitan Beauty Award 2011 Elle Beauty Award 2011 Allure Readers' Choice Breakthroughs 2011 References External links Products introduced in 1947 Hair care products Personal care brands Shampoo brands Unilever brands