The not-so new, “popping” strategy to get people talking about your company is to, apparently, ignite anger. More often than not, this has been done by using racism. Beauty brands have taken their own fair share of this by either using racists remarks or stereotypes, or not catering to brown-skinned people through their products. The routine is as follows: release something absurd, controversial and offensive, get people talking and mentioning your brand, ultimately popularizing your name, then release an unapologetic apology statement to the public expressing how you did not mean to offend anyone and was not aware of the consequences of your actions. You knew.
The lack of diversity within the beauty spectrum is astounding in the worst way possible. Although, some brands have taken the initiative to make changes to appeal to a more diverse community – some only to not lose customers, but we’ll save that for another time – others have done the opposite.
At first, it was possible to think that maybe those involved (companies) simply had no idea that what they were doing was offensive – naïve in a way. Maybe they did not realize that some things could have been avoided and this could be justified by the fact that the number of colored people working in higher positions of these brands are minimum, or nonexistent. If you don’t understand the history and struggle of black people, how could you have known, right?
Are brands too ignorant to distinguish when they are releasing something racist, or is this apart of a sick tactic?
At this point, they should know better. A lot of actions are obviously wrong, and I cannot accept that no one pointed that out before anything was released to the public.
Italian cosmetics brand Wycon Cosmetics released a black nail polish shade named “Thick as a N***a” (pictured above). Seriously?? The company received well-deserved backlash, mostly via social media, for this, but I am beginning to think this is exactly what they wanted. You cannot argue that this was not done intentionally. And of course, the typical apology statement (here) was released via Instagram following this. Apparently, they took inspiration from songs and thought it would be okay. They go on to mention that they partake in charity and social projects, as if that has anything to do with this. They are “deeply sorry”, guys. Since then, Wycon has removed all nail polish shade names and opted to use numbers instead…okay.
Above: Tarte’s shape tape foundation shade swatches, courtesy of Pop Sugar (Can we please point out none of these shades even matches the person’s arm?)
Tarte Cosmetics released their new shape tape foundation and to the public’s surprise, or maybe it was not so surprising, the shade range was not very inclusive. To my surprise, I had no idea that we (black people) only came in three shades. Tarte knew people would get upset over this. Oh, we cannot forget the apology statement. Tarte released this statement on their Instagram story shortly after:
An effective way to put an end to these tactics is to stop giving racist or non-inclusive brands, that claim to be inclusive, our coins. Creating products for lighter-skinned, or white people is favored over darker-skinned. The behavior that we have been witnessing is unacceptable. If you must be racist or offensive to any culture to receive some spotlight, delete yourself. If you are going to be a cosmetics brand, you should be catering, or attempting to cater to, everyone. It’s 2018, let’s get it together.