Foxy Voxy's Academic Beauty Collective

Hopefully this is the end to the whole business. As per MAC’s Facebook page:

As per NYMag.com, MAC has announced they’re donating all the profits from the controversial collaboration with Rodarte “to a newly created initiative to raise awareness and provide on-the-ground support to the women and girls in Juarez.”

Also, “MAC and Rodarte are deeply sorry that this makeup collection was so offensive to the people of Mexico and concerned global citizens.” They will be renaming the products and revising the marketing materials (which I assume means taking new photographs).

As per our previous discussion on the topic, I think that there are a lot of complex issues here that have been oversimplified, and I’m dismayed by the number of comments I see on other blogs that say “i wasn’t going to buy from this collection b4 but i am now since it all goes to Juarez!!!!1!!one!” Let’s be honest, girls, you wanted the products and now you can tell yourselves how positively virtuous you are for buying them. It’s not the consumerism I mind; it’s the hypocrisy. But then again, I guess that’s the interwebz.

Did MAC make the right decision? Probably — but the femicides in Juarez, while utterly abhorrent and reprehensible, are a symptom of a much larger, deeper, and more complex problem that will take much more than one cosmetic collection’s profits to solve. Until there is an end to the drug/gang war in Mexico and a major improvement in economic conditions, buying lipstick to help Juarez is like putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. If you really want to help women in Juarez, forgo the lipstick and nail polish and donate all of that money directly to a reputable charitable organization with teeth. Write to your senators and representatives. And work to improve conditions for women in your own hometowns by donating time and money to local and national organizations.

/rant

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rickharris/430890004/

I would be remiss in fulfilling part of the mission of the site if I didn’t mention the controversy over this September’s upcoming MAC/Rodarte collaboration (promo photo at left). I will put sales announcements in a separate post since it seems inappropriate to attach them to the end of this one.

Simply put, the situation is this: Rodarte (a fashion line run by two sisters, who are, if it matters, of Hispanic descent) is coming out with a Fall 2010 collection inspired by a trip they took through Texas last year, from El Paso to Marfa. They have said that the inspiration from the line and the palette of colors chosen came from the “ethereal” landscape of the area. Just over the US/Mexico border, within spitting distance of El Paso, is the city of Juarez, infamous for several related reasons. In the last two decades, Juarez has seen major growth as an industrial center, due largely to the 300+ factories (maquiladoras) that are located in and around the city. Mexican workers, many of them women, flocked to Juarez in hopes of getting jobs at these factories, where they work for long hours in poor conditions for little pay. With a population of 1.3 million, Juarez is also a major piece of contested turf in the Mexican drug war, and as such it is a city rife with violence: according to USA Today, 2,600 homicides occured there in 2009. (In comparison, New York City, with a population of over 8 million, saw only 461 homicides in 2009). Norte, the Juarez newspaper, has dubbed the city “the most violent zone in the world outside of declared war zones.” University of Texas El Paso professor Tony Payan was quoted in the Houston Chronicle as saying, “Having hitched itself successfully to American patterns of consumption, including drug consumption, [Juarez] has also become the one city where the crunch of the war on drugs and the worldwide financial crisis have had a very heavy impact… Tens of thousands of young men roam the streets with little or no hope of obtaining a job, of receiving drug treatment, of escaping the cycle of violence.”

While the vast majority of homicide victims in Juarez are men, there is also a noted pattern of female murder victims, many of whom are maquiladora workers on their way to or from the factories. The murders are usually preceded by rape or other violence, and have become known as an example of femicide. According to the National Organization for Women and Amnesty International, approximately 400 women are suspected to have become victims of femicide in Juarez since 1993. However, Amnesty International is elsewhere quoted as placing the number of recovered bodies at 800, which is indicative of the difficulty in pinning down down an exact number of deaths; many cases are not investigated and others are suspected of being covered up by police. There are also women who have gone missing and never been found (and who may number in the thousands).

MAC is putting out a cosmetics collection in conjunction with the Rodarte fall line, and the issue is that they have chosen some shade names that many people view as insensitive or offensive given the circumstances. The products spawning the greatest controversy seem to be the two nail lacquers in the collection, which are named “Juarez” and “Factory.”

In response to the controversy, which has been playing out in the usual internet carnage form on various and sundry websites and blogs, Rodarte made the following statement: “Our makeup collaboration with M·A·C developed from inspirations on a road trip that we took in Texas last year, from El Paso to Marfa.  The ethereal nature of this landscape influenced the creative development and desert palette of the collection. We are truly saddened about injustice in Juarez and it is a very important issue to us. The M·A·C collaboration was intended as a celebration of the beauty of the landscape and people in the areas that we traveled.”

MAC also made a statement, as follows: “We understand that product names in the M·A·C Rodarte collection have offended some of our consumers and fans.  This was never our intent and we are very sorry.  We are listening carefully to the comments posted and are grateful to those of you who have brought your concerns to the forefront of our attention.  M·A·C will give a portion of the proceeds from the M·A·C Rodarte collection to help those in need in Juarez. We are diligently investigating the best way to do this.  Please be assured that we will keep you posted on the details regarding our efforts.”

The majority of internet discussion of the subject on beauty blogs has been of the usual trainwreckery that you might expect. If you think we can do better, I welcome your thoughts.

UPDATE: Late on Monday MAC released the following statement (italics mine):

“We understand that product names in the M·A·C Rodarte collection have offended our consumers and fans. This was never our intent and we are very sorry. We continue to listen carefully to the comments we have received and have the following plans to address concerns:

• We are committed to donating $100,000 to a non-profit organization that has a proven, successful track-record helping women in need and that can directly improve the lives of women in Juarez in a meaningful way.
• We are changing the product names in the M·A·C Rodarte collection.

As we have done in the past, please be assured that we will communicate details regarding our progress in this matter.”

Rodarte released a statement as well:

“We recognize that the violence against women taking place in Juarez needs to be met with proactive action. We never intended to make light of this serious issue and we are truly sorry.

Helping to improve the conditions for women in Juarez is a priority for us and we are thankful for all the comments calling attention to the urgency of addressing this situation.”