Even the Same Shade of White

During our discussion about advertisements and reasons for their effectiveness, we paused to address an interesting fact about one of the example ads used in the presentation. It was a Gap ad that featured a line up of models wearing the brand's clothes. One problem: the brand of clothes that everybody wears was shown being worn by a white majority. One model of color (a student remarked she is just as tan as her in the summer) and an Asian model stand among their white counterparts who dominate the advertisement. Not very representative of who actually wears Gap clothing.



The ad mentioned (pictured above) draws similarities to the recent Vanity Fair New Hollywood issue, an annual spotlight on the year's latest breakout actresses. This year's roster was filled by Carey Mulligan, Kristen Stewart, Abbie Cornish, Mia Wasikowska, Amanda Seyfried, Rebecca Hall, Emma Stone, Evan Rachel Wood, and Anna Kendrick. Before the issue hit newsstands Vanity Fair released a photospread of all the actresses together, strewn across a row of chairs. A talented bunch of young women, no doubt, but is this really all of Hollywood's latest talent?





Breakout actress Gabourey Sidibe, who starred in 2009's Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire was noticeably absent from Vanity Fair's shoot. Yet her acting in Precious garnered her more accolades (one of them being an Academy Award nomination) than any of the other actresses included in the issue. If this Hollwood issue was supposed to showcase the latest talent, surely Sidibe would be there. Perhaps it had to do with something other than her talent. Interestingly enough, Sidibe is featured on the cover of Ebony. This stark contrast of who graces the cover of publications such as Vanity Fair and who ends up only being featured on magazines that cater to a black audience represents an underlying belief that beauty resides only in those who are slender and light-skinned.



Someone else noticeably absent from the spread is the lead actress from Avatar (the top-grossing film of all time, mind you) Zoe Saldana. Access Hollywood recently asked Saldana what her reaction was to the Vanity Fair issue. "Our pace might be a little slow and it might not be on par to how we, as American civilians, would like it to be, but it is still an amazing country," she says, "So, when I look at magazines like Vanity Fair and Vogue, I know that it's just a matter of time, the same way Obama took his time and he got to office and became President...it's just a matter of time until magazines, the media, our art, our culture, our colloquial lifestyle, tags along to our today reality."

Sources 1 2 3