On our podcast from last week, CB and I talked about the current racist shenanigans throughout the fashion industry, from Gucci’s blackface sweater to Burberry’s noose hoodie to Dolce & Gabbana being dumpster fire people. We spoke about it in the context of whether royal women should be held accountable for wearing problematic designers, and I made the argument that “cancelling” fashion labels gets very complicated, so no. Basically, I still think it should be a case-by-case thing for designers and fashionistas, and I also think that, well, everybody makes mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes are stupid and racist and oftentimes those mistakes should have been caught long before the products went to market. But it also makes a difference when a company understands that they made a mistake and they apologize completely and acknowledge it. So it is with Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty.
Following criticism surrounding one of Rihanna’s latest Fenty Beauty launches, the brand has pulled the offending product from its lineup. Last week, Fenty Beauty announced a new line of bronzers and highlighter shades: Mo’ Hunny/Afternoon Snack, #PENNY4UTHOTS and Geisha Chic. The latter immediately sparked controversy online, with fans saying that the red color and name fetishizes Japanese culture.
One Reddit user who commented on the brand’s Instagram page calling out the product name received a direct message. “We hear you, we’ve pulled the product until it can be renamed. We wanted to personally apologize. Thank you so much for educating us,” it said.
Some fans pointed out that this isn’t the first time Rihanna’s been accused of cultural appropriation; her “Princess of China” music video, in which the singer portrays a heavily costumed Asian stereotype, received similar blowback. But according to watchdog Instagram account Estée Laundry, which posted about the highlighter snafu and the brand’s immediate response, many customers seemed satisfied with Fenty Beauty’s decision to pull and rename the product before it hits shelves on April 5.
“I wish more brands responded like this. Props to Fenty for listening and doing something about it,” one person DM’d the account, according to Estée Laundry’s Instagram Stories. “Fenty swallowed their pride and that is something admirable.”
Where art thou, people upset at #PENNY4UTHOTS? That name actually made me laugh, although most ladies probably wouldn’t be too happy at being called a thot. As for the geisha name… it should have been caught and canceled way before the product name announcement, absolutely. But I also think Rihanna and Fenty Beauty absolutely handled the screw-up in the right way. Everyone makes mistakes, and they caught it immediately, before the backlash even really began, and they pulled the product before it even went on the shelves. That’s what we need more of – an example of a company screwing up and fixing it thoroughly. (Of course, it still would have been better to not screw up at all, but we can’t have everything.)
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Rihanna’s social media.
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