Racism in cosmetics company ads/products?

[lafemmenoir]

I tried to sit this one out, but in response to those who get a bit of heartburn cos Black Opal doesn't have shades fair enough. That's as rubbish as getting upset because a brand for "mature skin" doesn't suit youthful skin. Iman created her line, as did Fashion Fair, Flori Roberts etc. because they were targeting a demographic. Once upon a time, cosmetics companies did NOT have shades for darker skinned women, you can research the reason for these companies. But I believe the post was about racism, so how can a brand who saw a demand and offered a supply be racist for not being all inclusive? If all cosmetics companies were all inclusive, we would not be discussing this.
In addition, I have seen loads of ladies and gents darker than NW40 but MAC is not the be all end all and it tends to break people out, just like Fashion Fair turns me into an oil slick. You can't have it all.

 

[SonRisa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissChievous its weird that these Asian companies support those stereotypes.

Because bottom line, they know what people want and its all about making $$$$ not moral obligation unfortunately.

 

[SonRisa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deven.marie true. i appreciate you saying that. i just wanted some examples, such as the skin whitening ads or the l'oreal thing. i realize now that it probably wasnt the best place to post if i'm looking for any kind of in-depth analysis.

If I may say though... it is nice to see people concerned and thinking about more than "OMG Im gonna die! I cant find my HG lipglass"

 

[DirtyPlum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deven.marie what i'm asking is, have you noticed any companies that promote beauty as being fair with blonde hair, etc.. i realize that racism goes in all directions, but i am specifically focusing on the notion of white supremacy and the idea that true beauty is being fair with blonde hair, believe me, i'm half indian and half black, so i understand how the idea and image of beauty is so distorted in asian countries that women start to bleach their skin. i would just like to explore the reasons behind this idea of perfect beauty and how companies promote that image.

I personally dont think any companies promote beauty as being fair with blonde hair or the notion of white supremacy. With the exception of fair and lovely however, their adverts are shocking. I would love to know if MAC in India actually sell any bronzers?


http://specktra.net/f179/do-indian-w...er-skin-72956/

 

[reesesilverstar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShugAvery2001 Of course it gets heated. The only place I've ever see topics of race,class, politics being discussed without triggering so many emotional responses is in academia. I think you're going wayyy to deep for Spektra.net actually. You're dealing with language that most people don't even understand. Like if you asked people on spectra to define racism or white supremacy, you'll get a gazillion different answers. And on the flip side if you want to deal with the psychology of the language, racism sexism supremacy homophobic are all loaded words and most people will give you nothing but an emotional many times biased opinion. I'm not even sure that this forum would be a good source for your paper. You need to hit the books kid and do some real research cause i'm sure what you're looking for has been explored and documented before. You don't need any opinions you need hard analysis and statitics which you won't get here.

In complete agreement... That's why I got lost... It was all emotion and foundation... I wasn't sure what ppl were talking about in respect to the question asked considering it is for a paper...

Maybe make a poll and hand it out on campus or at the Supermarket etc... so you get a broad pool of opinons... I agree, Specktra may not be the most reliable source of info for this...

 

[deven.marie]

great idea, reesesilverstar

 

[Ruby_Woo]

Lancome does have a resident model who is black. I forgot her name, but I did see her picture in a few ads in our counter. One was for skin care. They have 2 resident models one white and one black.

Just thought to throw it out there.

 

[xStarryEyedX]

I saw that somebody here mentioned L'oreal... So I figured I'd throw in my experience... I worked for the Body Shop right when L'Oreal took over the company and they began focusing more on makeup+skincare (not very successful even still, but that's what they wanted their employees to focus on)... We sold about 10 different foundation shades, and the darkest one was made for somebody with tan skin (in Bare Escentuals terms, about medium tan)... And they wonder why their makeup sales suck, 50% of the people who were even willing to give their makeup a shot (in my experience) were darker than the shades we had (sorry body shop, it's true. deal with it)

Now, fast foward.. I'm going to bring up Bare Escentuals- which is where I work now. We have tons of foundation shades, and as with any other company's foundations the wrong shade will look grey or "ashy" on darker skin..But recently they've added more shades and switched up the starter kits so they're every-skin-tone friendly. The only thing is we have an under-eye concealer called well rested but it's even a little light for some medium skin tones, what do they think only light skinned people get dark circles? ((granted our concealers sorta suck anyway, but it's the principle in the matter))
I feel like all you would have to do to show racism in cosmetic ads would be buy any magazine (allure, cosmo, glamour ETC) and rip out all the cosmetic ads... Maybe 1 in 10 of the ads would feature a woman darker than tan-skinned. It's pathetic, but true. While people might not realize it, it's a pretty simple example of cosmetic companies viewing beauty as light-medium skin and blonde-brunette hair...

This is an interesting project, maybe if we had things like this when I was in school I would have paid more attention... or not dropped out of CC haha..

 

[aleksis210]

OMG is it bad that I was laughing when watching the lovely and fair ads? Especially the second, she was having a freaking nightmare in the beginning! lol wooohoo anyway, just thought I might add that it's not racism that's abundant in cosmetic companies failure in creating darker shades, it's laziness, it's so much harder to create darker shades, especially when someone is mixed. I'd like to add thatI've never not had to mix 2 shades of found. together until MUFE came along!*Bless Dany Sanz' Heart* I absolutely hate the subject of Racism in having to do with a school paper because it's so old and played out and it's such an easy assignment to give.It's also just too hard nowadays to find it, it just ends up being paranoia or hearsay.(I am in no way saying it doesn't happen though) I find myself having to constantly BS my way through papers like that. I honestly believe most people's paranoia makes them more susceptible to the idea of Racism. BUT because you do have to do this paper, I would def. show your professor that you aren't narrow-minded/one sided and include all colors of the spectrum. p.s. When I worked @ Lancome I had to cover for Fashion Fair every once in a while when the Lady wasn't there and sometimes I had to take the WOC over to Lancome, yup, because Fashion Fair didn't have their color.

 

[aleksis210]

Good luck though!

 

[redambition]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lafemmenoir I tried to sit this one out, but in response to those who get a bit of heartburn cos Black Opal doesn't have shades fair enough. That's as rubbish as getting upset because a brand for "mature skin" doesn't suit youthful skin. Iman created her line, as did Fashion Fair, Flori Roberts etc. because they were targeting a demographic. Once upon a time, cosmetics companies did NOT have shades for darker skinned women, you can research the reason for these companies. But I believe the post was about racism, so how can a brand who saw a demand and offered a supply be racist for not being all inclusive? If all cosmetics companies were all inclusive, we would not be discussing this. In addition, I have seen loads of ladies and gents darker than NW40 but MAC is not the be all end all and it tends to break people out, just like Fashion Fair turns me into an oil slick. You can't have it all.

I find it interesting how it's ok for companies that don't cater to WoC to be seen as racist, but if someone turns it around and points out that a company catering only for WoC is technically guilty of the same thing then that person is told that's not the case.

what's good for the goose is good for the gander, really.

that said - i agree with you in the sense that i don't think it's racism, it's targeting demographics. most companies can never hope to corner all of the market... so they choose a segment and aim for that. MAC tried to be different, but we're seeing them fall for this too - they are axing their darker shades and paler shades of foundation, powder etc.

to the OP - try visiting Visit 4 Info. It's a depository of ads - you can run a search on the cosmetics houses and see pages and pages of their print ads. it'll help show you what kind of images the cosmetics houses are using and how often they use a darker skinned woman, for example. Hopefully it gives you some good ideas. Just flicking through the Lancome ads it was pretty obvious they seem to have a standard.

 

[Shadowy Lady]

hmmm....I don't think I've ever heard of racism in cosmetics companies before. I may be naive, but I don't believe using only white(or only black) ppl in ads or some companies not having very dark or very light foundation shades counts as racism. I mean, I think that some ppl are taking this racism thing too far (and of course I'm not talking about the OP). It kinda annoys me that sometimes anything and everything is labled racism.

Sorry I haven't been much of a help. I do hope you find something for your paper, maybe try your school library

?

 

[FullWroth]

Another thing you have to be careful of, as people have more or less pointed out, is jumping to conclusions based on a company's products or commercials. Racism involves thinking that a certain race, or any race other than yours, is somehow inferior, and it's really impossible to say from a picture of a white woman whether a black woman isn't in the picture because someone thinks blacks are inferior to whites.

Companies market to demographics. As with the example of foundation colors that has been brought up, if a company supplies super-dark and super-light shades of foundation and virtually nobody buys them, it would be incredibly stupid of them to keep manufacturing, testing, packaging and shipping these shades to all their sellers. It's a huge waste of money on a product that largely ends up sitting on the shelf.

Similarly, is the ad featuring a white girl because the company hates blacks, asians, hispanics, etc. or is the ad featuring a white girl because white girls are the company's primary source of income and thus the demographic most important to market to? Someone mentioned that dark-skinned women are hesitant to buy high-end foundation because they don't trust the brand. Well, let's see, what's cheaper for the company: giving the dark-skinned girls special attention and trying to coax them into the brand like shy puppies, or spending a third as much giving their current, loyal demographic of white girls incentives to keep buying products that sell regularly?

Demographic targeting isn't always racism, and without knowing the motivations behind each marketing campaign and product line, it's very difficult to make that judgment call unless there's a public scandal where someone slipped up and their racism blatantly shone through. This is not to say that there isn't racism in the fashion and beauty industries - there absolutely is, and the ethnic groups targeted (yes, even whites! because racism can apply to us too, ladies, let's not forget that!) change depending on which market you're looking at - just that it doesn't come down to whose face is on the billboard, it comes down to what the execs behind the ads are thinking in the board rooms.

 

[reesesilverstar]

I have a question, has anybody else of a darker skintone walked into a BE store and felt like a leper? This happened to me yesterday (3rd time, yea, it's a charm)

Just thought I'd put that co. out there...

 

[FullWroth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by reesesilverstar I have a question, has anybody else of a darker skintone walked into a BE store and felt like a leper? This happened to me yesterday (3rd time, yea, it's a charm)

Actually, I'm about as pale white as it gets, and I frequently feel like a leper in these stores myself. I think a lot of it is, unfortunately, the air of exclusivity that gives much of the beauty industry its steam. I've gotten really comfortable walking into MAC now because I know most of the MAs, but the first time I went, I was terrified. I'm still a little nervous going into Sephora. I'm not one of those cover girls either.

'Course, there IS a possible race aspect of it, although I think some of that is self-imposed, and it's something we all do. Me, for example! I've been staking out this Chinese bakery for months now, and I really wanna go in and try something, because I LOVE Chinese baked goods, but I just feel so weird, a white girl walking into a store for Chinese immigrants. I have this irrational fear that someone will chase me out with a broom or something and send me back to Kroger for vanilla cupcakes. I feel like I have to take an Asian friend with me to be "allowed" to be there. It's stupid, but it's unfortunately the message people sometimes get when we split off into specialty stores rather than having one big diverse store.

 

[chocolategoddes]

I know I'm just repeatinw what others have said but, I honestly don't see a connection between racism and cosmetics, as in the brand itself is "racist".
Cosmetics deal with beauty. Beauty is determined by culture. What is considered beautiful is reflected by our culture.
So you'll see more brands catering to darker skin tones in a place that has a stronger concentration of people with darker skin.

People these days like to get offended by anything they can.
Like how people can't say "Merry Christmas" because it might offend those who don't celebrate Christmas.
It's just like walking into a boutique with large photos of white models. Some people would say, " Oh, this brand is racist!!!"
We read into things too much and analyze things too deeply.

 

[hotmodelchiq]

I am a black woman on the lighter shade of the spectrum and Ive noticed in fashion and cosmetics most lines only cater to white women or dark skinned women even on the runway you'll see that the MOST famous black models are darker complected... I think with the exception of Beyonce many light skinned women don't have many products to choose from. I have also noticed when people think "African American" they think about dark skinned women first... I have love for all our shades but cant us NC 40-44 sistas get some love lol

 

[xStarryEyedX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by reesesilverstar I have a question, has anybody else of a darker skintone walked into a BE store and felt like a leper? This happened to me yesterday (3rd time, yea, it's a charm) Just thought I'd put that co. out there...

BE actually now makes just as many shades for darker skintones as they do lighter ones (actually, maybe one or 2 more)...The problem lies in the fact that not everyone is trained properly in how to match the darker skintones. And even with proper training, honestly maybe one in ten women who walk in to be matched have darker skin tones- and with BE if you don't use the right shade on somebody (not necessarily the darker shades only, if someone's medium beige and you use medium they'll look grey and their pores usually look huge) it tends to have a grey cast. I was visiting a counter in Nordstrom when all the girls were newish and as soon as a woman with a darker skintone sat down they were all like uhh what do I do? Why? Because clearly they weren't trained properly.
If you go in to be matched, make sure they use the light stroke brush and not the kabuki brush AT ALL. Also, if you want to PM me your myspace link or something I can try to match you from your pictures... It sucks that you felt that way..It really does, because there's no reason for it.

 

[SparklingWaves]

Alright, I have some resources for you.

This one is an article.

Voice Online :: EXPOSED: The fashion industry gripped by racism


This is a video.

SHOWstudio - POLITICAL FASHION - Movies - UNTITLED by Nick Knight


Ad for brown spots in Korea.

Bi-White | The Skin Pigmentation ID

Korean Nazi ad pulled. Video is included. (Note: There is a news article by Time in this blog).

Korean Nazi Ad♥Pulled - FRONT PAGE - Sarah Palin Naked Photos/Myspace flash/Nikki Catsouras/Plentyoffish reviews/Glitter writing

Of course, numerous members of Specktra have seen the images from Clio Professional and discussed them at length another thread. CLIO Professional The Time magazine article gets into the nature of these images in that part of the world.

Emani Fair and Handsome cream (video)


YouTube - Fair and Handsome Emami fairness cream

There's a lot of info out there. I hope this helps you with your paper. Good luck to you.

 

[deven.marie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aleksis210 Good luck though!

thanks! and actually it's an ethnic studies course that only focuses on racism, thats why she assigned the paper