When Becca Cosmetics announced their Skin Love collection last week, the beauty world was psyched for their new skincare-meets-makeup products including a serum, highlighter, and foundation, all promising to achieve that fresh, trademark Becca glow.
But after releasing a questionable campaign image, the glowy excitement quickly turned into an all-too-familiar worry and concern over diversity within the beauty industry.
The photo shows four arms of different skin tones modelling swatches of the Skin Love Weightless Blur Foundation, with the palms of the deeper toned models noticeably coloured in. As all people of colour know, our palms are not the same complexion as the rest of our arms and tend to be lighter. As shown by Becca, this is apparently not common knowledge.
Concerned beauty lovers picked up on this insensitive oversight and voiced their opinions on Twitter. One user accused the brand of blackface by writing, "So did Becca Cosmetics really refuse to hire black women for these swatches? They just edited a white hand darker? Look at the two darker hand’s palms."
Another user pointed out that Becca used a different photo of a darker toned arm, with a lighter, seemingly unedited palm, in a separate swatching image posted on the brand's Instagram.
After a few days of silence, Becca responded to the backlash on Thursday with a new photo on Twitter. "Thanks to everyone who shared feedback on our recent arm swatch image, we hear you and want you to know that we remain committed to continually representing our inclusive BECCA Beauties, " the statement read. "To demonstrate this commitment, we’ve re-shot with real girls from the BECCA office."
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They also posted on Instagram to apologise. The brand denied the blackface accusations and insisted they used four models with different skin tones. However, they did admit to 'adjusting' the photos, with the caption reading, "Some insights: Truth: The image featured four models of different ethnicities. Truth: We acknowledge the way we adjusted the image missed the mark and are deeply sorry for this oversight. Truth: BECCA is committed to showcasing the lightest to the deepest skin tones and hiring inclusive models for our campaigns. To demonstrate this commitment, we’ve re-shot with real girls from the BECCA office."
Becca appears to be keeping their word, as they've been actively responding to criticism and feedback in the comments. Here's hoping that Becca and all brands learn from this situation moving forward—so it never happens again.
Ariana Yaptangco oversees all #content across ELLE's social media platforms and covers beauty news. When she isn't staring at a screen, you can find her drinking tea, trying new skincare products, or yelling about the New York Mets.
