Category: Unit 2 (Page 3 of 32)

The beauty industry has been failing black women for many years. It is unfair that black women could not feel beautiful and confident when they do their makeup because makeup brands don’t have more options when it comes to shades of darker colors. Statistics proved that black women spend nine times more money on cosmetics and makeup brands than white women. Black women are the beauty industries most consumers and this is because they have a harder time picking the right shade for their skin. This is a problem that needs to be spoken about and I will be showing many examples of different genres that speak of this topic. More needs to be done and failing to act now can lead to many consequences. 

Source Entry 1

Fetto, Funmi. “The Beauty Industry Is Still Failing Black Women” The Guardian (Funmi 2019). https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/sep/29/funmi-fetto-happy-in-my-skin-beauty-industry-diversity

For years, the beauty industry has been failing black women. Fetto Funmi explains how hair and makeup products tend to exclude women of color. Funmi referred back to when she was younger and used to read magazines, she would skip right past the beauty pages because it made her feel outcast and she felt that the faces on the pages didn’t look like her. This can make any young black girl feel the same way and this is the purpose of Funmi writing this article. The important point of this article is that she speaks highly about her being a part of the beauty world and it is driven by her blackness and the industry rejecting her. Another important point about this article is that Funmi explains how the beauty industry is failing black women and young girls through the evidence of her own experiences.  She also uses facts from certain businesses such as CNN to further explain her points. She uses these as evidence to explain how much the beauty industry is failing black women. She uses her own experiences for other women of color to relate to and understand. 

Funmi Fetto makes many points of how the beauty industry is not treating women of color as equal to the women you usually see in advertising and magazines. She also talks about realizing how different industries and society make her feel simply because of the color of her skin and she further explains how she came to understand this as she grew up. I completely agree with the points Funmi states and I agree with her statements because many women of color try to find beauty products that they feel beautiful in however, they can’t find the right shades of makeup. Additionally, I agree with how she points out that when she was younger, nobody in the magazines looked like her, usually, we would see women with lighter skin tones and we would see the makeup that is being sold for only women who have lighter skin however as Funmi explains, this has to change and the beauty industry needs to include women of color as well because every woman should feel confident.  Funmi Fetto states “I moved towards the foundations and chose the darkest shade. It was called “Biscuit”. I looked like I had white chalk on my skin. I laughed to hide my embarrassment but, at that moment, everything changed. Suddenly color mattered, in more ways than one. This is when I realized I was black” (Fetto 2019). Many women or young girls can go or have gone through the same experience. Instead of the beauty Industry having darker shades for women of color, Funmi couldn’t find the right color for her and she felt embarrassed instead of feeling confident. Other information I would need to research for a better understanding of what the author is portraying would be articles about other women of color’s experiences and thoughts about this topic. If any day I were to have the chance to say something to Funmi Fetto, I would say how inspired I have become from her article and her experiences. I would also tell her how much I’m interested in wanting change for women of color and having any women with any color feel confident and beautiful. My research question is how is the beauty industry making a change for women of color? This article tells me that still up until this day, the makeup industry is still failing women of color. This article also tells me that my research question has yet to be answered. 

Funmi Fetto’s writing style, awareness of the audience, the purpose for writing, and choice of genre, affect the meaning and credibility of the document because she explained how she was failed by society and even the beauty industry. This made it more understanding of how women of color feel every day since they were young. The meaning for this article is about giving a visual of what black women and men go through in their lives. It all affects the meaning and credibility of this article because it makes people understand more, it makes society view things differently, it makes society want a change and want better for women of color. 

A quote that I agree with and that exemplifies the article’s claims would be when Funmi Fetto stated “This is when I realized I was black. It was like I had turned up to a party to which I was not invited. I felt irrelevant, excluded, and ashamed. The message from the beauty industry was loud and clear: I was not valuable enough to be part of the conversation” (Fetto 2019. Page 2). This quote explains what most women of color feel or have felt in their lives. I’m interested in when said that the beauty industry makes her feel as if she was not valuable enough to be a part of the conversation because this explains what her whole article is about. Many of these women of color are not being valued or talked about and the beauty industry is not taking full action to change this.

Source Entry 2

Ivis. “It’s 2020 and the beauty industry is still failing black women? 2019 IvisToday.co.uk. https://ivistoday.co.uk/its-2020-and-the-beauty-industry-is-still-failing-black-women/

Many of the important parts that this blog post covers are that even till this year 2020, the beauty industry is still failing black women. The most important point Ivis makes would be that it is the year 2020 and products suited for black women are still noticeably absent from retail shelves. The data, facts, and evidence the author of this blog post chooses to use to prove how the beauty industry is failing black women are Instagram posts from celebrities, percentages, and the changes that makeup brands have made. This information is used to arrive at the author’s conclusion by showing which makeup brands have been making a change, the percentage of the difference between black and white women, and also social media posts from celebrities that would grab the young community’s attention. 

I agree with most of the statements Ivis puts into the blog. I agree because the topic of any industry not treating black women equally and not including them is a really important conversation to have and something that needs to change completely. In this blog post, Ivis states “For a long time now, as WOC we have found it extremely difficult to find affordable drugstore products that cater to our skin type. It has always been a struggle to find a high-street brand that takes into consideration our different undertones, textures, and hues, and that stocks more than one variation of Caramel” (Ivis 2020). The beauty industry has failed to provide cosmetics that caters to black women’s different shades of skin tones and textures. Caramel is usually the only dark color beauty brands provide assuming that it’ll be the right color for black women which is not right at all. Questions I have are why would these makeup brands only create one color for black women? What has improved? How has the beauty industry changed? Has the beauty industry taken any responsibility? To further gather information and understand this blog post, I would have to search for makeup brands that only sell a “caramel” shade. I would also have to search for makeup brands that have done nothing to change the fact that the beauty industry is not including black women. If I were able to say anything to this author, I would explain how well put together this blog post was. I would also say how much I was able to agree on and how much I learned about this topic. This blog post tells me that my research question, “what is the beauty community doing for dark-skinned women?” is still an ongoing question because not much has improved. This blog post shows how in this year 2020, the beauty industry is still failing black women which goes to show that my research question still has to be answered. 

The author’s writing style, awareness of audience and purpose, and choice of genre affect the meaning and credibility of the document because it shows that making this blog post was for awareness to the young community that loves makeup and to show them how unfair and unequal the beauty industry is treating black women. The style of writing, the purpose, and the choice of the genre are to have a voice and give facts on what’s happening and what has been going on to this day. 

Many of the points that the author of this blog post, Ivis, has made caught my attention and has proven how much this topic has affected black women and the black community. In the blog post, it states, “In 2017 we also spent $127 million on grooming products and $465 million on skincare. Considering this that in 2016, just 22% of the models featured in ads in the UK and US were ethnic (black, Asian, Hispanic) while the rest (78%) were white – cosmetic brands are making an effort in their marketing, but most skincare brands are not – by only featuring white women in their campaigns, they also assume their audience and consumer is white” (Ivis 2020). Most of the consumers are women of color therefore, why aren’t they included in the beauty industry? The beauty industry only features white women assuming that the consumers are also white however, women of color spend the most money on beauty products than white women statistically. 

Source Entry 3

Exposing The Makeup Industry & The Discrepancies Black Women Experience Daily | The Glam Gap| BETNetworks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2ZRrsKmUso

In this video, many women speak about how the beauty industry is failing black women. This video also covers the topic of the discrepancies black women experience daily. The main point of this video is to portray and make people understand that black women are not being included in the makeup industry as if they don’t exist and there’s a need to make makeup for specifically black women. The information and facts they use to further explain this topic are different makeup brands, they use the information of the people they interviewed and they also use a percentage of numbers that include the money black women spent on cosmetics and even the population of black women in the U.S. All of this information proves and shows people how the beauty industry does not include black women, however, black women have a high percentage of people that buy cosmetics. 

In this video, there are many facts, information, and opinions that I agree with. I’m very interested in how they gathered the information and spoke on it. The people that they interview clarify how the beauty industry is failing black women and they give much information that answers most of the questions that I have about this topic. In the video, Jessica Smalls, a celebrity makeup artist that they interview, states “I feel that black women are buying makeup more than anyone else because we have to do more trial and error to find products that look good on us” (Smalls 3:54/13:29). This shows that black women are to spend more money on cosmetics because they often have trouble finding products that look good and that makes them feel confident. Other information I might need to look for to better understand this article would be opinions and facts from older black women from the 80s and 90s to have a better understanding of how black women dealt with the beauty industry from years ago and this will show me how different or how much things have changed throughout the years. This video tells me that my topic question, “What is the Beauty Community Doing for Black Women” hasn’t been answered because up until these days, black women are still being failed by the beauty community and industry. If I were to speak with the creator of this video, I would explain how much this video has taught me about how much black women are spending on cosmetics and how the makeup industry is not including black women. I would say that the video covers many of the questions I have about this specific topic. Questions that I have are, are black women protesting against this? Are there makeup brands changing this and making cosmetics specifically for black women? How much has the beauty industry changed throughout the years? Has the beauty industry improved since years ago? Has it stayed the same? 

The author’s writing style, awareness of the audience, the purpose for this video, and the choice of genre affects the meaning and credibility of the video because it gives it more information, more of how each of these women feels, more opinions and it gives readers an insight of what black women go through. These all affect the meaning and credibility of the video because it proves to others specifically the beauty industry how much things have to change and be equal. People who watch this video can see that the way it’s put together and the way you can figure out the purpose of this video shows just how much information they could get to answer any questions they have. 

One of the main things these women in the video mention was that black women spend more money on cosmetics than white women because black women have a harder time looking for the right products for them. In the video, Janell Hickman, a freelance beauty editor/ brand consultant states “Essence did a study about black women and their spending patterns as it relates to cosmetics, and they said that it’s like nine times more than what people buy. Black women buy up to 80% more makeup because think about it if you can’t find your shade, you’re buying one, two, three, four shades. A white woman is probably just buying one” (Hickman 4:47/13:29). This shows that black women have a harder time finding the right shades for them which makes them spend more money on cosmetics while white women are spending less because it is easier to find their right shade of color. 

Source Entry 4

Vox, How beauty brands failed women of color https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5e4gwDGrNk

The main speaker in this video shows how the makeup industry has been evolving and changing. The main point of this video is to inform the audience how the beauty industry has been failing black women and has been excluding them from being a part of the beauty community. The most important points that are in this video are that there are makeup brands that are coming out with new colors and more options of colors for dark-skinned women such as, Fenty Beauty by Rihanna as it was mentioned in this video. The data, facts, and evidence that the speaker of this video uses to support their claims are facts and statistics, old magazines, and covers of beauty articles from years ago and from recent years, and also the opinions and statements from women in the beauty industry. The speaker uses these pieces of evidence to arrive at their conclusions because it gives the audience more knowledge and an insight into how the beauty industry is treating black women, it is backing up their claims and it proves how the beauty industry has been failing black women. 

Most of what this video covers expanded my view on this topic. I agree with many of what the people in this video states because the beauty industry has not been including women of color to be part of their consumers and has not been including them in the industry and that is why I find this topic very interesting because all women of any color should feel beautiful and confident in the makeup that fits right for them. The speaker in this video states, “For a long time, the beauty industry has neglected women of color as consumers. But our bad gal RiRi’s incredibly successful makeup line has challenged the notion that the market for deeper shades isn’t profitable for cosmetic companies” (Vox 2017 0:49/9:10). This quote shows that the beauty industry has had a brand that came out with many shades of skin tone colors including dark colors and this brand is Fenty Beauty by Rihanna. Questions I have would be what other brands created more options of colors for dark-skinned women? What motivated Rihanna, the founder of Fenty Beauty, to create this brand and provide more options for colors for black women? Other information I would have to search for to better understand this video is statistics of the number of consumers for different types of makeup brands, statements that Rihanna, founder of Fenty Beauty has made and search for her motivations, and also search for how much the beauty industry has changed throughout the years. If I was able to say something to the speaker in this video it would be that I was able to gain knowledge about the changes in the beauty industry. I was able to gain information on who has made a change in the beauty industry and which makeup brands were successful in making different shades of colors for black women and has been including women of color in the beauty industry. My topic research question is what is the beauty community doing for dark-skinned women? What this video is telling me about my research question is that although the beauty industry entirely has not been making a change for black women, there are many makeup brands such as Fenty Beauty by Rihanna that have been changing this problem in the beauty industry. 

The author’s writing style, awareness of audience and purpose, and choice of genre affect the meaning and credibility of the video because it was made to catch the young communities’ attention mostly. After all, they are the main people who are more on social media specifically youtube. These affect the meaning and credibility of the video because it makes the video more informative and it is made so that people who believe that dark-skinned women and men should have a right to be apart of the beauty industry can get an insight into how much the beauty industry has changed and how it looks like today. 

Most of the statements that many of the women in this video have said have caught my attention and have made me more interested in this topic. In the video, Tiffany Gill, an Associate professor of History and Black American studies at the University of Delaware, states “Before the Fenty Beauty line launched, Make Up For Ever, another cosmetic company that caters a lot to professional makeup artists, launched a campaign that also had a lot of skin tone inclusivity” (Vox 2017 1:22/9:10). This shows how much the makeup industry is changing for the better. Many makeup brands are starting to change the problem of black women not finding the right shade of color for them. Now, black women can have more options to choose from when it comes to cosmetics. 

Makeup brands are beginning to create more shades of color for black women however, the beauty industry is not changing enough. Black women are still feeling as if they are not a part of the beauty industry. Many magazines and advertisements are still not including black women. Young girls and women of color should look up to black women being in magazines and advertising however, this won’t be possible because what they see is white women. Many people avoid this topic however, it is important to include all women no matter their size, color, or ethnicity. All women should feel beautiful and should feel inspired not to feel like they are not included.

Misinformation and the school curriculum: Five key challenges and how we should promote digital literacy

Summary:

This bloging website based in the UK.There was a post that talks about media literacy and the 3 problems that come with it . The first one being promotion.This means that there is a lot of  people that don’t know how to share this information to as much citezens as possible.The second problem the article talks about is the government in the UK.The government in the UK isn’t helping schools at all about media literacy.This is one of  the biggest problems because at the end of the day you need the government’s help to make sure that laws are past to  get this to every school.The third problem is that we need a teachers that know to teach media literacy.We would have to train a lot of new teachers for this subject.This would take a really long time because that would also mean that the course would also need to be made in suffecient ammount of colleges to learn from.

Reflection:

This Blog post reminded me that this is goning to be alot less easier said than done.What I cannont agree more on is the fact that the government doesn’t want to help with teaching about media literacy.This makes me think that the government in the UK doesn’t want it’s people to be smart and eduacted about media literacy.”While the Government is reluctant to revise the curriculum, there is evidence that shows that it should. A recent report by the National Literacy Trust found that only 2% of primary and school children know how to spot misinformation.”.

This may be alittle ironic about misinformation but the post doesn’t have any details on the author.It doesn’t show a name or a face so i cant search them up.The only reason I shared this is because it has multiple links to offical tests and other papers on the same subject.This is some problems i have with the article but it is overall very well put together in my opinion.I would ask the aouther of the article why he didnt put his name on the post or maybe add an backround of education to the blog to make more people belive it.

Quoteables:”There are growing concerns about misinformation within our democratic societies, which rely on a well-informed citizenry. While misinformation has always existed, in the digital age it can spread far more quickly and widely, and how to stop it is a big question.”