Week 6

      Our discussion on images and photography this week got me thinking about my internship at a fashion public relations firm that I’ve been doing since July. My internship is not only a PR firm, but also a showroom where we present about 15-20 fashion brands that stylists can pull from for red carpet events or editorial shoots. In addition, interns conduct research for bloggers and celebrities who we think will best fit the brands, so that we can gift them samples and gain more product recognition. In doing research for these brands, I work with other interns and account executives to get their advice and approval of women who would bring the best publicity for the products. 

     While we look at how strong of a following these women have, a lot of our decision-making has to do with their image and physical appearance. I understand that this is expected, especially working in entertainment, but I was shocked to witness the blatant racial discrimination of my peers in choosing potential celebrities to wear our brands. It made me realize why we don’t have enough diversity across all platforms of entertainment, because the creators behind the scenes are given the power to choose how brands are represented. These images that we see in the media routinize the way that we see race because we’re used to seeing a specific aesthetic in campaigns and editorial shoots. 

     On the second day of my internship, while researching bloggers, I came across some beautiful people of all different races and also different body types. When I presented my list to a senior intern who was training me, she was quick to point out that those who were colored and maybe those who were fuller figured were not the “right fit” for our brands. This made me really angry and I proceeded to ask her why she would not consider them and she refused to give me a straight answer at the risk of sounding too racist. I knew why should did not agree with them, but I would have liked to hear her reasoning and point of view. When I research bloggers, I like to select a variety of girls because in my mind, anyone should be able to wear these brands. I do not understand the image that our brands are trying to capture, but I know that it is not all-inclusive. In doing this internship, I have learned the harsh reality of racial discrimination in popular culture first hand, and it makes me really frustrated to know that so many people reinforce these problems rather than solve them. I believe we need to utilize images in a more efficient way by using it as a tool to express racial diversity and inclusivity, or an accurate representation of reality.