Beauty News: Solange Knowles, Cassie and Selita Ebanks the New Faces of Carol’s Daughter

Posted by in Featured, Hair Care, Headline | 7 comments

Beauty brand Carol’s Daughter, a longtime brown girl favorite, has announced that singers Solange Knowles and Cassie, and model Selita Ebanks will be the new faces of the brand’s new multicultural ad campaign. In an effort to reflect current Census data, the brand wants to appeal to a demographic of women who identify as multi-ethnic, according to Carol’s Daughter Chairman Steve Stoute (Cassie is African-American and Filipina, Selita is Jamaican, Irish, Indian and African, and Solange is African-American and French Creole). Here’s a quote from Stoute’s interview with WWD:

“What we’re doing now is moving into a polyethnic space. When I say polyethnic, I mean women who are made up of several ethnicities,” Stoute explained. “If you ask them what they are, they’re going to use a lot of different words to describe themselves. That’s in line with the Census data coming out — people are checking much more than two boxes.”

[Our goal us to appeal to a] “millennial generation, which is basically a colorless society. They don’t see color anymore. They’ll say, ‘my father’s black, my mother’s white’ — there are all these ethnicities that make up these people, and what we decided to do was mirror what’s happening in America.”

Ummm…right. While I am a fan of each of these three ladies and can appreciate Carol’s Daughter trying to be more inclusive, I can’t help but think that the brand is really reaching here (and a serious side-eye goes to Steve Stoute and his “colorless society”). To me, Carol’s Daughter has always been geared toward women of color, regardless of their specific ethnicity. Why couldn’t they just say “Hey we’ve got three gorgeous new spokeswomen. Here they are!”, and leave it at that? Why the apparent need to break down their ethnic makeup? What about the women who have supported this brand from day one, who may not be multi-ethnic? Are they being represented here?

I don’t know, maybe I’m over thinking things. What do you guys think? Is Carol’s Daughter’s new ad campaign on point, or totally missing the mark?

 

  • http://qalil-com.blogspot.com Qalil Little

    Maybe they’re just trying to market their product to a wider audience. After all Mixed Chicks has been getting a lot of press.

    My niece is bi-racial, but living in Canada she has a very high chance of meeting and falling in love with a native American, asian (indian or japanese or chinese…), or carribean or south american or african…

    I am just trying to say that I understand who they are trying to appeal to. This particular ad campaign is trying to reach multi-ethnic groups. I don’t think it means they’ve forgotten the rest of us.

  • http://afrolistasandthecity.blogspot.com Vonmiwi

    I’d say he totally missed the point on this one and he’s supposed to be a marketing expert. Carol’s Daughter already has a large following of women who aren’t in their targeted demographic, so if they wanted to reach out to them by expanding the brand they should have come up with a multi-cultural/ethnic advertising campaign that shows they’re being inclusive. What he created is one that speaks of intra racism and exclusion with this poly-ethnic crap!

    We’ve got to do better than reverting pack to the previous practices in advertising campaigns that were one dimensional in their view of beauty. The ad would have been fine if he didn’t throw that polyethnic crap into the mix because it would have been relatable.

  • http://www.Brownbombshellbeauty.com Amber

    Hi Qalil! You’re right, Mixed Chicks has been getting lots of attention lately, so CD might just be trying to get in on that particular demographic. Thanks for your thoughtful comment!

  • http://www.Brownbombshellbeauty.com Amber

    Yes, I think his talking points and the potentially exclusionary tone of the campaign are rather unfortunate. He totally lost me when he brought up the US Census. Sir, this is shampoo and hair gel we’re talking about. Dial it down! Lol Thanks for your comment :)

  • CocoaPopps

    I agree-particularly with the colorless comment–absolute nonsense. CD can go for another audience-as per Qali’s POV but they need to do it a different way that doesn’t exclude skin tones and textures.

  • HarlemWorld

    Steve Stoute is a coon for this one. He is way blacker than all 3 of these ladies. He should be ashamed of himself. Diddy need to go upside his head again.

  • http://KinkyKia.blogspot.com Nakia Alston

    I see and hear Lisa Price and Steve Stoute’s intent, but take issue with their execution. I see this advertising approach as irresponsible and isolating. It not only illustrates a “standard” look of a multiracial person, but also subtlety perpetuates the same ol same ol ideals of beauty. I believe Carol’s Daughter could have an ad that achieves their goal of inclusivity while portraying women of varying skin tones and nationalities/ethnicities.

    As a dark skinned woman, it is difficult enough to navigate the world as a consumer seeking out products and brands to identify with, having that very world impose a “norm” that doesn’t meet your gaze in the mirror; But to seemingly find one in Carol’s Daughter and then have them move away from a look that resembles yours feels like a betrayal. Moving forward, I am not sure where this position puts me as a consumer or if I will continue to patronize Carol’s Daughter.

    Check out my blog which goes in a bit more detail about my feelings: http://kinkykia.blogspot.com/2011/04/dark-side-of-beauty.html