Cosmetic companies have suddenly realized that women of color exist, and that their money is the same color as anyone else’s. As brands struggle to catch up, it appears some may have employed tactics that could be offensive to the very people they are trying to target. Several brands have been called out for editing the skin tones of both black and white models to appear darker in swatch photos — and Twitter is furious.
Refinery29 recently looked into this trend and what they found wasn’t great.
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Truth: The image featured four models of different ethnicities.
Truth: We acknowledge the way we adjusted the image missed the mark and are deeply sorry for this oversight.
Truth: BECCA is committed to showcasing the lightest to the deepest skin tones and hiring inclusive models for our campaigns. To demonstrate this commitment, we’ve re-shot with real girls from the BECCA office."
According to Nielsen, black women alone spend nine times more on beauty and haircare products than our non-black counterparts, with a spending power totaling $1.1 billion annually on beauty. Moreover, it is also noted that when black people choose to consume a certain product, it adds a “cool factor,” which is no surprise since black culture has always significantly shaped American trends.
“Our research shows that black consumer choices have a ‘cool factor’ that has created a halo effect, influencing not just consumers of color but the mainstream as well,” said Cheryl Grace, senior vice president of U.S. Strategic Community Alliances and Consumer Engagement, Nielsen.
And this doesn’t even include women of color from other racial and ethnic groups who want makeup, too. It’s about time we start showing women of color (and our dollars) some freaking respect. It’s apparent we keep showing up for brands, but when will they start showing up for us?
