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Home • Lifestyle

Jackie Aina Issues Apology After Receiving Backlash From Nigerian Community For ‘Soro Soke’ Candle

Twitter users had Jackie Aina trending after launching her fall candle set, but it wasn't for good reasons.
Jackie Aina Issues Apology After Receiving Backlash From Nigerian Community For ‘Soro Soke’ Candle
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for YouTube Beauty
By Essence · Updated August 9, 2022
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

Jackie Aina is a personable YouTuber, makeup guru, entrepreneur and U.S. Army veteran by the way, who is usually trending for the right reasons. Over the weekend, Aina, who owns a lifestyle brand called FORVR Mood, caught backlash for a phrase she used on a candle in her latest collection, “Owambe.” The line is meant to represent “the life and soul of a Nigerian celebration,” but Twitter users criticized Aina for using the term “Soro Soke” as a name for one of the candles, which is a Yoruba phrase that means “Speak Up.” People were outraged because this was a trending phrase during the Nigerian #EndSARS protests in 2020, which aimed to put an end to police brutality.

“It was one of the rallying cries during EndSars. But Jackie was notably silent during the protests,” one user explained. Note that Aina is Nigerian American, so fans feel offended that she didn’t vocally support the movement, yet is trying to profit off of the phrase. 

The 35-year-old social media influencer was also accused of blocking people who asked her to join in the End SARS movement by lending her platform and voice at the time. 

“As a long term Jackie Aina fan, I’m so disappointed at how tone deaf this is. I didn’t even know she refused to shed light on the end sars movement till I saw several tweets about it today. And using Soro Soke as a candle name when it was the rallying cry for the movement?? 0/10,” a fan said. 

Aina eventually responded to the backlash and issued an apology via her Instagram page. She said the candle will be pulled from the collection and production would be halted immediately. 

Article continues after video.

“As the brand owner of Forvr Mood, I understand our decision has severely hurt members of my Nigerian community with the naming of the candle Soro Soke. We missed the mark on this and it will never happen again,” Aina wrote. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jackie Aina (@jackieaina)

“Empowerment and respect is the ethos of FORVR and that was unfortunately not properly conveyed in the naming of the candle.”

Her instagram post continued, “We accept full responsibility and I recognize the gravity of this error; to that effect, this candle will be pulled from the market and production immediately,” the statement continued. “I apologize for the hurt this has caused and I thank you for holding us accountable.” 

Whether or not people will move forward from the mistake remains to be seen, but it’s good that she acknowledged how the use of the phrase, for a product, was a tone-deaf decision.

TOPICS:  Candles home goods Jackie Aina

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Bodies, Policy, Sexuality, & Culture: An Intersectional Reproductive Justice Experience

Bodies, Policy, Sexuality, & Culture: An Intersectional Reproductive Justice Experience

Black culture has always shaped the world, but too often, our bodies, voices, and full identities are left out of the decisions that impact us most. This panel presented by SisterSong Reproductive Justice Collective, brings culture-shifters, policymakers, and storytellers together to explore how Reproductive Justice sits at the crossroads of race, gender, sexuality, policy, and pop culture. This is more than a conversation, it’s an invitation to imagine what becomes possible when we lead with our lived experiences and center those pushed to the margins.
Because when culture meets community power, we don't just shift narratives, we shape the future.

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  • Eva Marcille
    Fashion Model, Actress, TV Host and Entrepreneur
  • Kenya Parham
    Chief Growth Officer of SPILL
  • Shamea Morton
    Artist and Entertainer
  • Congresswoman Nikema Williams
    U.S. House of Representatives
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    Founder, CEO & Principal Consultant Starks & Whitiker Consulting
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