Company Uses White Models To Sell ‘Black Girl Magic’ T-Shirts, And Here’s How Internet Reacts
Online retailer Zazzle.com has recently found itself under fire for using white women to model “Black Girl Magic” T-shirts on its website.
The company, which allows people to customize their own clothes, was called out by a Twitter user called @jackieaina who was understandably surprised by what she found. She tweeted a picture from their website and it was soon retweeted by other people who were confused, angered, and outraged by the company’s bizarre decision, not least because Black Girl Magic is a term designed to “celebrate the beauty, power and resilience of black women.”
However, despite how bad it may seem, it appears that Zazzle didn’t deliberately arrange for this particular pairing to occur. They host their products through an e-commerce platform, but the online marketplace uses a computerized system that pairs those products with random models. In this case it just happened to pair the wrong thing with the wrong model, but the fact that the default model seems to be white raises a number of important questions that online retailers might want to think about for the future…
More info: Twitter
Online retailer Zazzle.com is in trouble for using white women to model “Black Girl Magic” T-shirts
And people are not happy
The company was called out by a Twitter user who tweeted a picture from their website
It was soon retweeted by other people who were confused, angered, and outraged
Black Girl Magic is a term designed to “celebrate the beauty, power and resilience of black women”
But as you can see, there aren’t many black women in these pictures
Despite how bad it may seem however, it appears that Zazzle didn’t deliberately intend for this to happen
They host their products through an e-commerce platform that pairs those products with random models
In this case it just happened to pair the wrong items with the wrong models
But the fact the default model seems to be white raises a number of important questions for online retailers
Needless to say, the internet wasn’t impressed
However, some people had a different perspective
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I'm not offended, but I agree that it's super weird. Especially the white guy wearing the "black woman power" t-shirt.
Yeah, that one almost seemed like a weird joke to me.
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I'm familiar with zazzle and I'm pretty sure they take the model photos in a plain t shirt without any slogans and then the computer program puts the slogan over it when the designer submits their slogan or image they want on the shirt. The computer program isn't going to understand why that shirt on that model would be insensitive and would have no way to fix it. This is overly sensitive even for the Internet.
Who cares?? it's just fashion. I have a unicorn tshirt and i'm still not a unicorn. Stop screaming each time we involve skin color!!
I have an owl shirt and sadly when i look in the mirror i'm still no owl...
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Wow...and I also heard several bags of rice recently feel over in China, with several more at the risk of tipping. These are T-Shirt slogans...not more and not less. If you really want to make this a racial discrimination issue you could rather argue that if a white-skinned person wears a shirt saying "I'm a strong black woman" they are supportative. You surely can discuss about a lack of diversity in models presenting fashion, as you could about the way fashion is presented. But this "outcry" is just way over the top!
But I live in Southern California, so "white racism" doesn't exist -__-
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Sometimes I feel like some people are taking it really far and (to me) I almost feel like they're being racist to white people.
They are. Read the first comment (in the pics). That girl is definitely racist.
Load More Replies... Some people are just way too sensitive. Would it be better if they would have matched slogans with skin color? Let's say white woman with "White magic" or black man with "black power". Would it be more appropriate? No! (Does someone remmember power rangers series?) Some people are just unhappy about everything related with black and white colours.
" celebrate the beauty, power and resilience of black women." , try to replace "black" with "white" and see what happens, "angered"??? Seriously??? What a RASISTS!!!
There's nothing wrong with being proud of who you are. It doesn't imply that ONLY black women are capable of having such qualities. It doesn't say anything negative about any other race. Celebrating those things doesn't make you a racist.
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So tiresome that Americans still firmly believe in cultural exclusiveness....racial paranoia is such a waste of time we are all just humans
Can't see white girls going into the store or online buying a Tshirt saying black gurl magic or strong black women or black queens are born in march, as they are not black so if the T shirts are to represent black girls you would get more sales if a black person were to be wearing and advertising it then it means something to black people just like a T s**t saying white chicks rock it would look a bit silly a black girl advertising this T shirt as it speaks for it self. Just saying
It happens in every platform like that. I work with redbubble and I think they only have one black woman, no asians aaand thats it. I think this type of platforms should be more diverse, bc they have people buying from every part of the world. Would be nice to see other models, and how certain products look in different skin tones, and thats a must for a designer and buyer.
The writing on the t shirt is kinda pointless. They could have written "soup" and none woulda cared. But add something abt skin colour and youre controversial. Free publicity.
company is full of retards if they didn't see that coming. nevermind that the message is also stupid. slogans about any skin color are racist.
Except for that MDC lyrics: "No one's really black or white, we're all shades of brown".
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I'm a black girl. I am 14 and those last three pictures of the comments are offensive. It is true that anyone can wear those shirts, those models COULD be black. BUT those slogans came from my race. We should be allowed to advertise them to the world. I'm sure people won't like what I'm saying, but we don't all have to agree. I just wanted to share my opinion too.
I'm sorry but this is far more funny than it is offensive. Plus why is there a hot white dude wearing a "strong black WOMAN" shirt? The hell? xD
I think it's funny and ironic. Mostly because if a shop is going to show products targeting black people, they'd show their faces, lol.
Auteurs Impex is a wholesale sweatshirt crewneck manufacturer In compliance with Quality Assurance with in-house and third-party entities. We pride ourselves on having an efficient workflow from initial design to delivery.
I used to be a designer with Zazzle and they do or did allow you to pick what models that your designs would show on. Maybe they stopped doing that or the designer didn't know what they where doing.
I really don't see a problem here just as I love seeing men wearing "feminist" shirts. Using black-skinned models would be cliché
Okay but who cares, black women wear "white womens t-shirts" too and nobody says anything because theyre shirts xD its just shirts people, there shouldnt be specific ppl being able to wear specific clothing because of their colour, now thats racist. This? this isnt racist.
I'm a white, English 44 y.o. male. Can I please get a 'Strong, Black Woman' T-shirt? Who doesn't love a strong woman, black, or otherwise? I may even stencil in 'Wanted' underneath.
My first reaction was positive. I saw it as people from all races celebrating the strength and power of black women and I honestly don't see anything wrong with that. It seems from some of the comments that people of color only want to be celebrated by people of color. Why limit it? Let all people celebrate all people. This would go further towards bringing us together as part of one human race instead of continually drawing lines that separate us and force us apart. Perhaps I am being simplistic, but I advocate for acceptance and celebrating all cultures and lifestyles, not just my own.
I think some people are just tired of white people being depicted as the default race for almost everything (like slogans for women and African-Americans).
I don't see how white people are the default for most parts of the world, say Asia for example, that's a big continent
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I think it is great that "white" models were used in these shoots. Think about it, the shirts are being advertised not the models. If these shirts were on display using mannequins you wouldn't be complaining.
If these shirts were on mannequins, it would be on neutral ground. Slogans like Black Girl Magic were created to uplift my people, not become a white person's fashion statement or popularity factor.
Load More Replies... Haha. Seems like an amusing mistake to me. Maybe they should rethink the algorithm for cases like this in the future. : )
This is one of those things where it just doesn't make sense that they used mostly white models. I'm personally not offended by it, but I am confused...
The white privilege comments on this thread is disturbing AF and comes to show that ignirance isn't bliss. POC are stikl struggling even through a computer generated choice. Thst means someone programmed it this way and it wasn't a random algorithm. It goes beyond just what the t shirt say.
Messed up! But t the fashion industry has always been known to put non POC front of the line...because it sells more, which is total bull c**p
What if I feel I was born the wrong skin color? I mean people can change their gender so if I want to be a strong black woman I will be!
Ah yes, because gender and race are definitely comparable 😑
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dont be stupid stupid people who make everything about color...then again I can say that all I want and it wont make a difference. people will still be stupid and only see color when it really doesn't matter. heh....racism needs to start standing for anyone who points out color as a good or bad thing...we are all human.
I totally agree, but you also have to understand those slogans come from my culture. Have you ever seen a black girl wearing a shirt that says "White girl magic" on it. Slogans like Black Girl Magic were created to uplift my people, not increase a white person's popularity.
Load More Replies... "white people shouldn't advertise black culture" yeah doesn't sound racist at all. Why does she want black people to get ghetto'ed like this? Can't we just all advertise each other culture? That's how you learn about something. Instead now, it's growing differences and inequalities.
I thought the guy wearing the black woman T-short was actually pretty funny. The rest...meh. It woudn't be a problem if there were a ton of black models and actors/actresses around. But there aren't.
Another case of blowing something out of the water. As stated in the article, Zazzle is an e commerce site that allows artists to upload their artwork and chose a variety of items for it to be produced on and sold to customers. The models are stock photos and the design is just imposed on the random models as a preview. The previews are meant to just show what the design will look like on the product, in my opinion i don't think it really matters whether the person is white, black, has pink hair, or whatever. I get the point of since the design is pro-black, having a black model might make sense to some. But ultimately doesn't really make a difference for how the product looks.... so cool, now maybe zazzle will get more stock photos of models of different races... but tbh unless they have a collection of models in every skin colour, hair colour, gender, transgender, etc etc, doesn't sound like anyone is going to be happy. It's not cultural appropriation or racism... calm down
Obviously more anti- white racism. The racist and intolerance towards anything white nowadays is astounding.
ANY reason to attack white people is fair game these days! Even white people are attacking white people! Hence, something like this happens, they go over the top! Im surprised they didnt call for the death penalty!
How about the fact that people notice and read the shirt more when worn by white people. Bringing awareness to the message or sparking a debate. Look where this tactic got our POTUS, simply by saying and talking about things that he "should not" be talking about.
I'm not offended, but I agree that it's super weird. Especially the white guy wearing the "black woman power" t-shirt.
Yeah, that one almost seemed like a weird joke to me.
Load More Replies... I'm familiar with zazzle and I'm pretty sure they take the model photos in a plain t shirt without any slogans and then the computer program puts the slogan over it when the designer submits their slogan or image they want on the shirt. The computer program isn't going to understand why that shirt on that model would be insensitive and would have no way to fix it. This is overly sensitive even for the Internet.
Who cares?? it's just fashion. I have a unicorn tshirt and i'm still not a unicorn. Stop screaming each time we involve skin color!!
I have an owl shirt and sadly when i look in the mirror i'm still no owl...
Load More Replies... Wow...and I also heard several bags of rice recently feel over in China, with several more at the risk of tipping. These are T-Shirt slogans...not more and not less. If you really want to make this a racial discrimination issue you could rather argue that if a white-skinned person wears a shirt saying "I'm a strong black woman" they are supportative. You surely can discuss about a lack of diversity in models presenting fashion, as you could about the way fashion is presented. But this "outcry" is just way over the top!
But I live in Southern California, so "white racism" doesn't exist -__-
Load More Replies... Sometimes I feel like some people are taking it really far and (to me) I almost feel like they're being racist to white people.
They are. Read the first comment (in the pics). That girl is definitely racist.
Load More Replies... Some people are just way too sensitive. Would it be better if they would have matched slogans with skin color? Let's say white woman with "White magic" or black man with "black power". Would it be more appropriate? No! (Does someone remmember power rangers series?) Some people are just unhappy about everything related with black and white colours.
" celebrate the beauty, power and resilience of black women." , try to replace "black" with "white" and see what happens, "angered"??? Seriously??? What a RASISTS!!!
There's nothing wrong with being proud of who you are. It doesn't imply that ONLY black women are capable of having such qualities. It doesn't say anything negative about any other race. Celebrating those things doesn't make you a racist.
Load More Replies... So tiresome that Americans still firmly believe in cultural exclusiveness....racial paranoia is such a waste of time we are all just humans
Can't see white girls going into the store or online buying a Tshirt saying black gurl magic or strong black women or black queens are born in march, as they are not black so if the T shirts are to represent black girls you would get more sales if a black person were to be wearing and advertising it then it means something to black people just like a T s**t saying white chicks rock it would look a bit silly a black girl advertising this T shirt as it speaks for it self. Just saying
It happens in every platform like that. I work with redbubble and I think they only have one black woman, no asians aaand thats it. I think this type of platforms should be more diverse, bc they have people buying from every part of the world. Would be nice to see other models, and how certain products look in different skin tones, and thats a must for a designer and buyer.
The writing on the t shirt is kinda pointless. They could have written "soup" and none woulda cared. But add something abt skin colour and youre controversial. Free publicity.
company is full of retards if they didn't see that coming. nevermind that the message is also stupid. slogans about any skin color are racist.
Except for that MDC lyrics: "No one's really black or white, we're all shades of brown".
Load More Replies... I'm a black girl. I am 14 and those last three pictures of the comments are offensive. It is true that anyone can wear those shirts, those models COULD be black. BUT those slogans came from my race. We should be allowed to advertise them to the world. I'm sure people won't like what I'm saying, but we don't all have to agree. I just wanted to share my opinion too.
I'm sorry but this is far more funny than it is offensive. Plus why is there a hot white dude wearing a "strong black WOMAN" shirt? The hell? xD
I think it's funny and ironic. Mostly because if a shop is going to show products targeting black people, they'd show their faces, lol.
Auteurs Impex is a wholesale sweatshirt crewneck manufacturer In compliance with Quality Assurance with in-house and third-party entities. We pride ourselves on having an efficient workflow from initial design to delivery.
I used to be a designer with Zazzle and they do or did allow you to pick what models that your designs would show on. Maybe they stopped doing that or the designer didn't know what they where doing.
I really don't see a problem here just as I love seeing men wearing "feminist" shirts. Using black-skinned models would be cliché
Okay but who cares, black women wear "white womens t-shirts" too and nobody says anything because theyre shirts xD its just shirts people, there shouldnt be specific ppl being able to wear specific clothing because of their colour, now thats racist. This? this isnt racist.
I'm a white, English 44 y.o. male. Can I please get a 'Strong, Black Woman' T-shirt? Who doesn't love a strong woman, black, or otherwise? I may even stencil in 'Wanted' underneath.
My first reaction was positive. I saw it as people from all races celebrating the strength and power of black women and I honestly don't see anything wrong with that. It seems from some of the comments that people of color only want to be celebrated by people of color. Why limit it? Let all people celebrate all people. This would go further towards bringing us together as part of one human race instead of continually drawing lines that separate us and force us apart. Perhaps I am being simplistic, but I advocate for acceptance and celebrating all cultures and lifestyles, not just my own.
I think some people are just tired of white people being depicted as the default race for almost everything (like slogans for women and African-Americans).
I don't see how white people are the default for most parts of the world, say Asia for example, that's a big continent
Load More Replies... I think it is great that "white" models were used in these shoots. Think about it, the shirts are being advertised not the models. If these shirts were on display using mannequins you wouldn't be complaining.
If these shirts were on mannequins, it would be on neutral ground. Slogans like Black Girl Magic were created to uplift my people, not become a white person's fashion statement or popularity factor.
Load More Replies... Haha. Seems like an amusing mistake to me. Maybe they should rethink the algorithm for cases like this in the future. : )
This is one of those things where it just doesn't make sense that they used mostly white models. I'm personally not offended by it, but I am confused...
The white privilege comments on this thread is disturbing AF and comes to show that ignirance isn't bliss. POC are stikl struggling even through a computer generated choice. Thst means someone programmed it this way and it wasn't a random algorithm. It goes beyond just what the t shirt say.
Messed up! But t the fashion industry has always been known to put non POC front of the line...because it sells more, which is total bull c**p
What if I feel I was born the wrong skin color? I mean people can change their gender so if I want to be a strong black woman I will be!
Ah yes, because gender and race are definitely comparable 😑
Load More Replies... dont be stupid stupid people who make everything about color...then again I can say that all I want and it wont make a difference. people will still be stupid and only see color when it really doesn't matter. heh....racism needs to start standing for anyone who points out color as a good or bad thing...we are all human.
I totally agree, but you also have to understand those slogans come from my culture. Have you ever seen a black girl wearing a shirt that says "White girl magic" on it. Slogans like Black Girl Magic were created to uplift my people, not increase a white person's popularity.
Load More Replies... "white people shouldn't advertise black culture" yeah doesn't sound racist at all. Why does she want black people to get ghetto'ed like this? Can't we just all advertise each other culture? That's how you learn about something. Instead now, it's growing differences and inequalities.
I thought the guy wearing the black woman T-short was actually pretty funny. The rest...meh. It woudn't be a problem if there were a ton of black models and actors/actresses around. But there aren't.
Another case of blowing something out of the water. As stated in the article, Zazzle is an e commerce site that allows artists to upload their artwork and chose a variety of items for it to be produced on and sold to customers. The models are stock photos and the design is just imposed on the random models as a preview. The previews are meant to just show what the design will look like on the product, in my opinion i don't think it really matters whether the person is white, black, has pink hair, or whatever. I get the point of since the design is pro-black, having a black model might make sense to some. But ultimately doesn't really make a difference for how the product looks.... so cool, now maybe zazzle will get more stock photos of models of different races... but tbh unless they have a collection of models in every skin colour, hair colour, gender, transgender, etc etc, doesn't sound like anyone is going to be happy. It's not cultural appropriation or racism... calm down
Obviously more anti- white racism. The racist and intolerance towards anything white nowadays is astounding.
ANY reason to attack white people is fair game these days! Even white people are attacking white people! Hence, something like this happens, they go over the top! Im surprised they didnt call for the death penalty!
How about the fact that people notice and read the shirt more when worn by white people. Bringing awareness to the message or sparking a debate. Look where this tactic got our POTUS, simply by saying and talking about things that he "should not" be talking about.
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