White Influencer Turns Down Brand Trip After Realizing Not One Of The 57 Attendees Was Black
She offered an example of what a good ally looks like.
Prostock-studio | Shutterstock Diversity is essential for any brand. All people must see themselves represented in an organization for it to reach its full potential. Some brands, however, do not see this as important.
This is exactly what happened with one brand that invited a very select group of influencers on a trip. Now, one woman is speaking out about her personal experience when she turned them down.
A TikTok influencer went public with her story after a brand that invited her on a trip completely excluded black influencers.
TikTok beauty influencer Eleanor Wood made a video explaining exactly what happened when she turned down the opportunity to go on a brand trip because none of the other invited influencers were black.
“So, I got invited on a global brand trip of 57 people, and not a single creator was black,” Wood explained.
“A global trip basically means that people come from different parts of the [world] together,” she continued. “Um, so you would expect with 57 people from all different walks of life, that there would be Black people that would be in that room.”
The influencer urged the brand to give her vacancy to a person of color.
“I gave the brand many opportunities to show that they were inclusive,” she said.
“Um, including my last message that I sent them, that they didn’t actually reply to, um, that said if they were replacing me, that I would hope that they’ve listened to what I said and replace me with a Black or brown creator that they have worked with.”
Instead, the brand chose to give Wood’s spot to another white female.
Ultimately, Wood felt that it was most important for the content creation community to speak out about issues that matter, including this blatant display of racism.
“We need to stand together,” she said. “Change won’t happen if we just let these brands fly under the radar. And I believe that we should all be making a conscious effort to make sure that our friends feel included.”
Another influencer applauded the decision not to participate in the trip.
A Black TikTok content creator known as The Nail Fairy gave a shout out to Wood for her choice not to attend the trip.
“For the girl who gave up her brand trip because there was no Black people on the trip, and then when she tried to have them replace her with a Black person, and they still didn’t, number one, shout out to you,” she said.
She also had some words for those who chose to go on the trip anyway.
“But to all the other allies, that is who y’all think you are, and I need you to speed it up and hurry it up, because that’s not who you are,” she said.
While Wood did not mention the name of the brand in her video, other TikTokers were somehow able to surmise that it was beauty brand d’Alba, known for its vegan, truffle-infused skincare. One commenter suggested boycotting the brand.
Exclusivity is a pervasive problem in the beauty industry.
While d’Alba may be the brand taking the heat in this case, they are far from the only one that employs racist practices.
A study from the University of Colorado Boulder said, “The continual exclusion of racially diverse beauty products and advertisements reinforces the idea that women of color will never have the same place in the beauty hierarchy as white women. Racial exclusivity in the cosmetic industry, as primarily seen through the lack of racial diversity in beauty products and advertisements, is a form of institutional racism.”
Marcelo Chagas | Pexels
This racism is unacceptable. It is excluding an entire group of people from the beauty industry and, by extension, saying they do not meet the standard of beauty set by society.
This is inherently wrong, and the fact that a brand refused to see the problem is troubling to say the least.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.