(Image from Google)
As Temptalia brought attention to the upcoming MAC collaboration with fashion brand Rodarte (September release date) the beauty blogging world has been thrown into an uproar. The subject of this uproar: the seemingly insensitive naming of products in the collection. Rodarte state that the collection is to celebrate the beauty of Mexico, instead it seems that names such as Juarez, Badlands, Factory and Bordertown do not seem to celebrate Mexican women, it doesn't even seem to celebrate women at all. The furore surrounding this collection is indeed centered on the naming of such disposable products such as eyeshadow and lipstick; naming them with such loaded terms seems totally disrespectful to the victims of femicide in the notorious city of Juarez.
I would just like to state that I am not Mexican or even American, I did in fact study narcocorridos and masculine violence in Mexico for my Master's dissertation. From this I have learnt that the treatment women receive in Mexico can be harsh, disrespectful and deadly. The city of Juarez is notorious for its violence against women:
- Officials place the number of women killed in Juarez at 400 whilst locals believe that over 5000 women may have been murdered in the city of Juarez.
- Commonly women were aged between 12-22.
- Most were factory workers.
Obviously this matter can not be taken lightly, it is a serious event and it needs to be tackled internally by Mexico's governing bodies. A makeup campaign which takes this lightly and names an eyeshadow after the city isn't really educating or dealing with the matter. MAC has stated that a percent of its profits will be donated but really we need to know how much will be donated. If something like 5% is donated, its not really going to cut it and I can't imagine many people being happy with this resolution. For MAC to really make a difference (and mop up this major faux-pas) a considerable percent has to be donated. I also believe that it would be very helpful if more literature and education was offered so that the situation of Juarez can become more understood.
Overall, this has left a bad taste in my mouth (and probably also for a lot of other make up lovers). For a major company to show little compassion or tact really changes my perception of them. They could have made this a collection which celebrates the vibrancy of Mexico but instead the colours do not strike me as vibrant or exciting. Instead the promotional imagery looks like a deathly woman and again I feel sick at Mac releasing this collection which seems to totally disrespect women and victims of Juarez's campaign of femicide.
A few helpful links about Juarez:
http://lasperlasdelmarfilms.com/juarez.html (details of a documentary on Juarez women)
http://political.detritus.net/juarez/ (another documentary, On the Edge)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKBQHPYdLq8&feature=player_embedded(trailer for On the Edge)
http://revcom.us/a/v24/1161-1170/1166/juarez.htm (an excellent article on femicide in Juarez)
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