When I was a little girl my favourite Disney princess was Snow White. Not only was it the second film I’d even seen on the magical big cinema screen but in the 80s she was the only Disney princess with black hair like me. When my movie viewing expanded I loved to dance around pretending I was Brigitta from The Sound of Music. She also had black hair which was even woven into my favourite plait hairstyle. With a German mother, beloved German grandparents and yearly holidays in a Bavarian Alpine idyl, I identified with the very similar Austrian culture celebrated in The Sound of Music. It is undeniable that we are naturally drawn to what is similar to us. Yet not once in my childhood did it occur to me that being brown skinned child should preclude me from going to a fancy dress party as the princess who famously has ‘skin as white as snow.’
The bias towards skin colour in advertising has real world consequences. My eldest has a modelling contract with a top agency - lots of interest, but every client wants a "mixed race" teen for their campaign. This in itself is racist! But of course, they don't think they're being racist, because racism only works the other way - white to black. My favourite retailer, Seasalt, has now been captured. Their latest brochure features the following models wearing women's clothing: tall skinny black man (transwoman but obviously male), tall fat black woman, tall skinny white woman. I have challenged them over this on twitter, surprisingly they haven't responded.
I'm so sick of this all. My employer has gone fully race critical theory, appointing managers on the basis of skin tone not ability....which is incredibly damaging for the staff who have to work for these muppets. We're all human. If only we could just accept that and each others quirks.
The bias towards skin colour in advertising has real world consequences. My eldest has a modelling contract with a top agency - lots of interest, but every client wants a "mixed race" teen for their campaign. This in itself is racist! But of course, they don't think they're being racist, because racism only works the other way - white to black. My favourite retailer, Seasalt, has now been captured. Their latest brochure features the following models wearing women's clothing: tall skinny black man (transwoman but obviously male), tall fat black woman, tall skinny white woman. I have challenged them over this on twitter, surprisingly they haven't responded.
I'm so sick of this all. My employer has gone fully race critical theory, appointing managers on the basis of skin tone not ability....which is incredibly damaging for the staff who have to work for these muppets. We're all human. If only we could just accept that and each others quirks.