How Have Makeup Companies Started to Expand Their Brands to Consumers of Color?

    The article written by Elizabeth Segran published in RACKED titled Is the Makeup Industry Finally Embracing Diversity? demonstrates the economic principle People generally respond to incentives in predictable ways because it shows how more mainstream companies are adding darker skin tones to their make up lines to gain more consumers who have darker skin tones.

     Prior to companies dedicated to colored customers, such as Iman, Black Opal, and Black Radiance existed, mainstream makeup companies like L’Oreal, CoverGirl, Estée Lauder, Lancôme catered to white consumers leaving out the $7.5 billion dollars black consumers spend annually in the makeup industry. Now, “Billboards and magazine ads now feature women with a much wider range of skin tones: Lupita Nyong'o is the new face of Lancôme, Frieda Pinto is a L’Oreal ambassador, Sofia Vergara is a CoverGirl. Brands are also expanding their color palettes and using color-matching technology to make it easier for women with darker skin to find the perfect shade of foundation or concealer”.

     Makeup companies now target colored consumers more than ever, “But the attempt to reach out to women of color has also brought new challenges. There are more opportunities than ever for clumsy missteps and campaigns that do more to alienate consumers than appeal to them. Sometimes the error has to do with poor judgement—see, for example, the controversy over whether L’Oreal artificially lightened Beyoncé Knowles’ skin in a print ad... "Some brands are just trying too hard when they target us," says Yanira Garza, a Chicago-based beauty blogger. "They rely on stereotypes that have nothing to do with how I live my life. Latin women want exactly the same thing that every other woman does".

     Even though some companies have mishandled representing their colored consumers, there are still opportunities for other makeup companies to thrive. When Iman Abdulmajid, a Somali-American supermodel started her makeup company, Iman Cosmetics, “[She] set out to change the very language that the beauty industry used to describe market segments". Instead of addressing her customers as "women of color", she addressed them as, "women with skin of color."...emphasizing that women of color are part of the larger group of all women, instead of a separate category. "Women with skin of color" have darker complexions and that’s it...this represented a bold, original way to speak to women that broke free from old frameworks". Makeup company, Bobbi Brown, used similar tactics, explained by Vimla Gupta, senior VP of global marketing at the company. Gupta explained that "[The company takes] a problem-based approach to beauty", and,"Bobbi started the company because she was interested in answering the needs of all shades of all women...She was interested in skin tones, which goes beyond race”. Rather than over-marketing how diverse the company is, Bobbi Brown, "...shows consumers that it's inclusive by offering a wide array of products and by using models from different backgrounds to show those products at work". Segran also added, “When it comes down to it, women of color do not want special treatment. They, like all women, just want to have their beauty issues solved, and brands are finally starting to recognize that. Raquel Lachman, director of brand marketing for Walker & Company, a company dedicated to the health and beauty needs of colored consumers, states in the article, "There are companies now that are willing to invest time and effort in listening to women of color and addressing their needs accurately...Their output reflects the thoughtful, intimate relationship they have with their consumer". When beauty companies market for customer satisfaction instead of trying to achieve a racial quota, consumers of color will invest in their products thus giving the beauty industry more incentives to keep expanding their brand to a wider consumer base.

In my next blog post, I will research: What aspects of beauty do companies target?