Nigerian-American beauty influencer, Jackie Aina, has apologized following an uproar over one of her candles named Sòrò Sókè.
The 33-year-old was criticized for commercializing the phrase which was used during the October 2020 EndSars protests to encourage people to ‘speak up’ against police brutality and bad governance.
She took to social media on Friday to apologize and announced that the candles would be immediately pulled from the market and production.
The candle which is no longer available on the website, was part of a new range of Fall scents currently available on the brand website and Sephora for $38. It is described as a blend of cardamon, sandalwood and leatherwood.
In May British journalist, Trish Lorenz, similarly came under fire over the ‘Soro soke’ phrase.
She wrote a book Soro ‘Soke: The Young Disruptors of an African Megacity’. which examined the bravery of the youths and the outcome of the movement.
But in an interview after the book came out, she claimed to have coined the phrase, leading to a backlash from Nigerians on social media.
This cohort exhibits a confident outspokenness and a tendency for creative disruption, leading me to name them the Soro Soke generation (Soro Soke means ‘speak out’ in the Yoruba language
