Richard Eden, London Telegraph, August 29, 2009
Never afraid of speaking her mind, Naomi Campbell has accused the advertising business of using the recession as an excuse to drop black models.
The 39-year-old supermodel, who is a close friend of Sarah Brown, the Prime Minister’s wife, claims that major companies are refusing to use non-white women to promote their products.
“This year, we have gone back all the way that we had advanced,” she says. “I don’t see any black woman, or of any other race, in big advertising campaigns.”
Campbell, who was born in London to a mother of Caribbean descent, refers to the publication last year of a special edition of Italian Vogue dedicated to non-white models.
“That made some noise, but, unfortunately, we are the same as before,” she says. “People, in the panic of the recession, don’t dare to put a girl of colour in their campaign, full stop. Nor of any other race. It’s a shame. It’s very sad.”
The model, who is a friend of Nelson Mandela, has won support from Bruce Oldfield, the designer of the wedding dress worn by Samantha Cameron, the wife of the Tory leader.
“It’s absolutely true that black models will be not as popular for advertising companies and magazine covers as white girls,” the designer tells Mandrake. “In a recession, it’s probably doubly difficult for black girls to get a booking.”
Oldfield is thought to be the son of a Jamaican boxer, but never knew his natural parents and grew up in an orphanage. “In this climate, things are worse, but it is compounding a problem that already exists,” he adds. “Cover editors are going to choose white over black. Naomi is not far off the mark.”
In 1988, Campbell appeared on the cover of French Vogue as its first black cover girl after Yves St Laurent, her late friend and mentor, threatened to withdraw all of his advertising from the magazine following its refusal to place Campbell, or any black model, on its front page. She also became the first black model to appear on the cover of British Vogue.
Earlier this year, she described the fashion industry as “racist”. In a magazine interview, she was quoted as saying “You know, the American president may be black, but, as a black woman, I am still an exception in this business. I always have to work harder to be treated equally.”
In June, she attended the Glastonbury music festival with Gordon Brown’s wife, Sarah. The pair were promoting the Million Mums charity, which aims to help prevent women from dying needlessly in pregnancy and childbirth.
Original article
(Posted on August 31, 2009)
Comments
Most Whites have little interest in what blacks are promoting. It’s not a RACIAL thing it is a CULTURE THING,we have little interest in dressing acting or doing what a typical black might do. We have little to no interest in what a black considers COOL as they say.
“Earlier this year, she described the fashion industry as “racist”. In a magazine interview, she was quoted as saying “You know, the American president may be black, but, as a black woman, I am still an exception in this business. I always have to work harder to be treated equally.”
Yes you are an exception and you should be thankful your getting any work at all. How many “supermodels” are still in the business at your age? If it weren’t for your black skin you’d be long gone by now. I just wonder if you’ll have enough sense to stop whining about it by the time your 50.
Black doesn’t sell on anything. I personally won’t buy a product with a black model on it. If a brand of toilet paper or diapers has a black baby on it, I’ll reach for the one with a White baby. Same with a box of cereal. The advertising leaves you with the impression that a black model means the product is for blacks.
This sounds like affirmative action here in the states. They get to have ‘preferences’ yet still claim whites have the advantage, and always, always, hold the moral high ground over the oppressive white societies representatives.
When blonds are on the cover, sales go up. When blacks are on the cover, sales go down.
By the way, what ever happened with Italy’s black Vogue?
Perhaps Ms. Campbell and her fellow black models could start their own fashion magazine instead of relying on another race to provide opportunities.
If having blacks as models made money for the industry they would be used. The fact they are not used suggests this is simply an economic reality, nothing more.
Every one of my economics professors said that a silver lining to recessions is that they squeeze inefficiencies out of the market.
Shouldn’t French and Italian magazines have French and Italian models?
“You know, the American president may be black, but, as a black woman, I am still an exception in this business. I always have to work harder to be treated equally.”
It must take real sacrifice to have to chain smoke twice as many cigarettes and expunge twice as many meals as a regular 100 pound waif.
The few actual skills needed to be a model, mostly involve following directions and taking criticism, areas where Ms. Campbell probably struggles given her long history of violent, criminal behavior.
A slightly more modest and pragmatic woman might take the Tyra Banks/Heidi Klum approach and slowly transition from modeling into the highly lucrative modern day circus freak-show that is reality television rather than trying to compete in an industry dominated by teenage girls from Eastern Europe but I guess that’s just not Naomi’s style.
It would appear that black models are a luxury that the modelling business can no longer afford.
Just use your common sense. Fashion magazine “A” has a White cover-model and sells an average of 2 million copies. They have a black on the cover and sales fall to 1.7 million. The lower sales translates into lower advertising revenue. So they have White cover models to generate more sales, more business and more advertising revenue. Campell doesn’t have the business sense or emotional maturity to accept this.
If having blacks as models or spokespeople increased sales for companies they would be falling all over themselves to hire them. But there’s the rub. It doesn’t increase sales. It probably decreases sales. I don’t relate to blacks at all and would never buy anything promoted by them.
No doubt all this criticism is self-serving as usual. I’m sure if she got more jobs we wouldn’t be hearing anything out of her selfish mouth about “racism”.
Naomi Campbell is running around with a Russian billionare at this time.He is, I assume, getting some of that B.P. I dont mean British Petroleum.
Well, I must admit that black women are largely unseen (except in government jobs). It is mainly the black male who is promoted. On the other hand, black women do tend to be unattractive, so I’m with the advertisers on this one.
I’m tired of hearing Naomi Campbell. She needs to get a job.
If Naomi wants to be truly progressive she should call for more models that are older, full-figured, and plain looking. A model with a limp or in a wheel chair would invite inclusion. There’s no reason why designer clothes need to be so expensive; if clothes can’t be afforded by middle class people then Naomi shouldn’t model them.
“Never afraid of speaking her mind, Naomi Campbell has accused the advertising business of using the recession as an excuse to drop black models.”
Like in ALL businesses blacks will be the first to go, because they were hired not for their ability, knowledge, intelligence or beauty, but because the elites would rather accomodate them than fight them in a riot where their power and money would be at risk.
Sadly, they don’t now have that extra money to throw towards appeasement, and the slackers and freeloaders are being forced out.
The universities are hurting as well, in spite of the stimulus money thrown at them. It’s only a one shot event, and if they think cutting the fat has been hard this year, wait until next year when black studies and feminist programs are laid across the chopping block.
Oh, oh, oh. Get out the riot gear. Black power is coming down…… again.
Of course they are cutting back. The harsh reality is, the overwhelming majority of people consider a certain list of traits attractive—high cheekbones, delicate features, a vertical brow, a non-simian jawline and so forth—and africans typically have those traits far, far less than any other race. Africans realize this, even africans who have scarcely any contact with euro-centric culture. They may say “black is beautiful”, but their own television and movie stars reveal otherwise—the typical “black” female shown is anywhere from 50%~75% white—Ms. Campbell being a prime example.
This disparity in physical appearance is probably why blacks have not interbred with the other races of man more than they have, despite cultural pressure from the usual sources of popular opinion. Most races of man are simply not attracted to africans. They are genetically farther from humanity* than any other race, and it shows. This is simply mother nature’s way of keeping separate species—not unlike mule deer and white tailed deer, lions and tigers, and other overlapping parallel species. They *can* produce hybrid offspring, but generally don’t. If evolution had been given a little more time, the african/human* genetic distance would probably be large enough to render hybrids impossible.
* As it is now, the genetic difference is already great enough that, were we consistent with our classification system, we would classify africans as a parallel species of upright hominid.
Why is it unusual for companies to use models that will actually sell the product they are advertising? Imagine that! They don’t have the extra money during a recession to do the pc thing and hire models that won’t draw in money to simply fill a racial quota. This economy is not a sitiation in which a business that wants to stay afloat can easily do the charitable thing, but will do what works to bring in the money.
I hate to say it, but it’s just an example of something good that a recession can do for us. It forces us down to bare necessity at times and to focus on what is really important and on what really works.
If a magazine feels the people actually paying to read their work won’t find the model appealing, they sure as heck won’t put her on the cover or pay to have a spread done. Too many people are reading mags at the checkout or in a bookstore these days and putting them back for them to make any other decision.
Campbell needs to get over herself. I’d be saying that if she were an emaciated white woman complaining that less anorexic types are getting covers (also true). Heck, the really unhealthy skinny girls are actually banned from some fashion shows in France of all places.
Business is business…not an experiment in social activism.
sbuffalonative:
The issue sold quite well and got considerable media attention.
Men of other races find black women unattractive. Apparently Black men also find women of their own race unattractive since given the chance they always chose a White or Asian woman over women of their own race. This explains the problem with Black Supermodels. They are the least effeminate and least attractive of all females and thus do not promote sales.
It’s not the fashion magazines that are racist, it’s the ‘racist’ readers that buy them that prefer white women on the covers, as reflected in the sales figures. So Naomi should not complain about the ‘zines, but the market segment they are geared to please. And she ought to quit whining anyway, as most white models can only dream about having her level of success, but that is still not good enough. She has enough to live comfortably for the rest of her life. It is maintaining that high powered luxury lifestyle that takes twice the hard work, but heck, what is wrong with going down a peg or two? She is still far better off than the average Brit and always will be.
Yes. So, I have a hard time understanding why white women would date men born of unattractive mothers???
Venezuela has won how many? Ms Universe titles by emphasizing classic European attributes.
‘Beauty Obsession -Venezuela’ (Video)http://tinyurl.com/m3efkw
While Western countries seem to be going for a more ‘diverse’ type of representation.http://www.zasucks.com/?p=4788
Maybe Ms Campbell thinks Black models can’t ‘cut it’ with the Eastern European models who are apparently doing so well. http://tinyurl.com/nfwhem
Think of how lucky her ‘industry’ is to have her calling them all racist, after all the opportunities she has been afforded.
You’re missing the point.
I know the original issue was said to have done well but what’s happened since?
One issue and it’s over?
If something did well, shouldn’t they be selling more?
The issue was clearly hype and without a market.
“Venezuela has won how many? Ms Universe titles by emphasizing classic European attributes.”
A whole hell of a lot more than countries populated by “classic european women.”
“A whole hell of a lot more than countries populated by “classic european women.”
It’s true, Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil have won more beauty contests than Finland, Germany, France, Sweden, etc. by a mile. It may just be that the international standard of beauty is a mostly white woman with some black and Indian thrown in.
Thirty-nine and she’s still a model? What’s she got to complain about?
It’s obvious that without her connections, she would have been gone long ago. In fact, without those connections, she would never have made it to begin with (St.Laurent threatened to pull all his advertising unless she was put on the cover of Vogue!).
This woman is too old to be a model and she’s not attractive to look at. Expect to see more loosening of the standards to the point we’ll see people with deformities modeling; siamese twins, extra limbs, hanging fetuses, etc.
“Maybe Ms Campbell thinks Black models can’t ‘cut it’ with the Eastern European models who are apparently doing so well.
When you think about it, why are those Eastern European countries now the source of so many top models? What is it that they have that other countries don’t?
Well, to be frank about it, they’re the whitest countries remaining in Europe, that’s what. What do they have? They have white populations!
It used to be, not so long ago, that Scandinavian models dominated the runways in Paris and Milan; but lately Scandinavia has been invaded by the Third World. So it’s fading out. And Western Europe went under to immigration long ago. So now, despite all their pretense about anti-racism and diversity, the fashion world has turned to Eastern Europe to find its clear-skinned, slim, leggy beauties. Even to Southern Brazil (white)!
To find the truth you have to look at what they do , not what they say.
Just a comment. The Italian “Black ” Vogue was only supposed to be one issue. It was an issue dedicated to using Black models. It was not meant to replace the original Italian Vogue!!!! It was published over a year ago and it did sell very well. Maybe soon the can have an Asian Vogue issue celebrating beautiful models of the Far East. Oh, and by the way. Black women ARE considered attractive by Black men and others. How in the heck do you think Blacks keep reproducing?
There is nothing wrong with White pride and finding yourselves beautiful. But I think you are being blind when you overate beauty or think a woman is beautiful just because she is White. Now you know and I know that a lot of women being shoved down our throats as “beautiful” are merely cute or attractive. Some examples I think of are Jennifer Anniston & Heidi Klum. Now there are more homely people than beautiful people, if that were not true beauty would not be so prized. So one could argue that in the U.S. where Whites are the majority, that the majority of ugly women are White, since they make up the majority.
Beauty is usually more obvious when features are symmetrical. That means evenly spaced from each other not the size of the nose or fullness (or lack of) lips. Naomi Campbell has high-cheekbones and symmetrical features. She is beautiful. But she has a very bad attitude is is actually biting the hand that feeds her when she criticizes the modeling industry. But I think she is saying all this for some publicity stunt anyway.
33 — Primavera wrote at 7:32 PM on September 2:
Far Eastern countries have their own fashion magazines which comes to the crux of the problem. Why do black models have to be displayed in European magazines? Are there no black fashion magazines out there like FUBU monthly or Flygear? If there are why aren’t you people content to have black models displayed in your own magazines? If there aren’t why don’t you quit whining and create your own? Black beauty and White beauty are two different standards and no White woman wants to look at black women modeling high end fashions even if it’s a cosmetically altered mulatto with fake hair.
Oh, and by the way. Black women ARE considered attractive by Black men and others. How in the heck do you think Blacks keep reproducing?
How do you explain the fact that black women are the least likely group to be married or that the illegitimacy rate is hovering around 70 percent? There’s a difference between attraction and someone just wanting a “release”.
Forbidden fruit may taste the sweetest, but eventually turns to ashes in one’s mouth…
Oh, and by the way. Black women ARE considered attractive by Black men and others. How in the heck do you think Blacks keep reproducing?
How do you explain the fact that black women are the least likely group to be married or that the illegitimacy rate is hovering around 70 percent? There’s a difference between attraction and someone just wanting a “release”.
Given enough Colt-45 to do the job, Eartha Kitt would start to look to him like Marilyn Monroe! (Not to mention cognac or cocaine.)
Noami Campbell is the perfect spokesperson to talk about race-related issues. Especially, since she was just in court for racially insulting and mistreating her Hungarian cleaning lady. She seems to spend a lot of time in court for various issues - assaulting people at the airport, throwing cell phones at people, and other types of misbehavior.
Maybe we should also just turn the stick and demand white models to be shown in black magazines.
Another option of turning the stick would be to just add up the numbers. England has a black of slightly above 2%, hence a black model should be on the cover of Vogue every five years. Equally, the US has a black population of roughly 12%, hence only one black player should be allowed on a basketball court during a game at any given time. We are all about equality right?
Why argue with them on a logical level that they can not grasp - such as the realities of business decisions. Just turn the stick and see how they respond.
First it’s black models in Vogue, next will be black models modelling black clothing. Expect to see leopard prints, berets and evening gowns with holes in them to expose the stomach.
