In an epic fail that makes you wonder if a person of colour was anywhere in the vicinity when this was approved, a new advertisement asking Australians to “make the white choice” is being demolished online.
In case your FYP has been blessedly free of this marketing nightmare, the “make the white choice” ad — promoting teeth whitening brand White Glo — has been spotted in the last few days emblazoned on the front of a Melbourne tram, as well as some Sydney buses.
We can safely call this a swing and a major miss.
“White Glo, you may want to double-check who’s doing your marketing,” wrote one TikTok user in a video that’s been viewed over 130,000 times.
“I did a double-take when a tram with this ad went past the other day, WTH!” another person added.
“To think this got created and approved by dozens of people,” another TikToker remarked. Yeah, it’s giving “we really thought no one would think twice about it” energy.
Breaking down the problem with the campaign, TikTok user Kriti Gupta explained why this goes way beyond just bad copywriting.
“At first glance, you might think ‘weird phrasing, but what’s the issue here?’ Well, the phrase ‘make the white choice’ echoes a long history of messaging, where whiteness was positioned as superior, the right choice, the clear option, the default,” she said in a recent video.
“It’s language that’s been used by far-right groups and white supremacist campaigns for decades, and whether this is intentional or not, the association carries harm.”
TLDR; this is a big yikes. And when you consider it looks like a no-context statement right there on Australia’s public transport, it’s more than just careless.
“In a city like Melbourne, which is multicultural, diverse, and deeply shaped by migration, seeing this on your morning commute is not just jarring, it’s actually unacceptable. The ad lacks any clarity around its intent, and without that context, it reinforces dangerous and racially loaded narratives,” Gupta said.
She added: “Look, this isn’t about being outraged for the sake of being outraged. It’s about understanding the impact of language, especially in public campaigns, and these types of decisions go through multiple teams, agencies, approvals, and in this case, also a government body. So how did no one flag it?”
She makes a pretty valid point, because something like this would’ve had to go through multiple layers of approval (think marketing, legal, senior executives, even the public transport body) and still no one thought twice about the connotations here.
Melbourne-based content creator and activist Jeff Kissubi also took to social media to spotlight the problem, highlighting just how much the ad missed the mark.
“This is not only tone-deaf, but very ignorant on the brand’s part to miss the mark. In 2025, the lack of cultural awareness around these things is astonishing,” he said in an Instagram video.
“Who are these people who are approving these campaigns to be put forward? It’s a reminder that a lot of brands in Australia need to have cultural strategists and advisers before they put something out like this.
“Public ad space isn’t neutral, language shapes power and erases Indigenous, Black, and POC voices. Let’s call out harmful messaging and demand accountability.”
I’d weigh in here that when it comes to selling something, even if it’s just toothpaste, you really want to go back to the drawing board if your slogan sounds like it could be merch for the alt-right.
Responding to some of the backlash on Monday, White Glo commented on a number of videos to say it has seen the feedback and apologised for any offense caused.
“It’s purely about teeth whitening, with no other intended meaning,” it said.
The brand also told PEDESTRIAN.TV the last thing it intended “was to offend the public or our White Glo consumers”.
“The tagline ‘Make the White Choice’ is a simply playful wordplay on ‘Make the Right Choice’, designed to highlight the effectiveness of our teeth whitening products,” said director Jeffrey Wong in a statement.
“Our goal was to emphasise that consumers often feel disappointed when choosing ineffective whitening products, and we encourage them to make a better decision by selecting our brand. We appreciate the opportunity to clarify our intentions and ensure you that the community’s feedback has been taken on board.
“PS: I can assure you that we have a very multicultural staff and management team.”
But as it goes with these things, there’s still plenty of people online wondering what’s the big deal and that this is “just an ad”. So, it’s worth pointing out it wasn’t long ago that a prominent neo-Nazi group was allegedly attempting to forge a new political party in order to bypass new anti-vilification laws.
The group is currently recruiting new members for their new political party, and is planning on running in the next Federal election, per Sydney Morning Herald.
In another concerning incident in Melbourne on election day, banners with slogans such as “No Asian votes should count”, “No Indian votes should count”, “No black votes should count”, “No Muslim votes should count”, and “Only Aussie votes should count”, were visible to passing motorists on three bridges over the M1 Motorway in Chadstone.
Fingers crossed these ads may be disappearing from trams and buses soon, but the deeper issue here won’t vanish so easily.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to Public Transport Victoria for comment.
The post An Ad In Sydney & Melbourne Is Getting Torched For Its Tagline To ‘Make The White Choice’ appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
