It’s an industry that’s worth well over $500 billion and thrives on a model that’s evolved drastically in the past 15 years. Its business structure lies at a unique intersection of people, information and technology, and continues to adapt as consumers interact with modern technologies in new ways.
The makeup world is now almost entirely reliant on a web of social media influencers, Youtube review videos, and #ads. As Makeup Geek CEO Marlena Stell says in an interview, “We don’t want to go back to magazine and television advertising. That doesn’t work.” At first, beauty Youtube was a way for audiences to watch real people review products without having to leave the comfort of their homes, but it’s since deteriorated into something far more transactional. Stell, a fixture of the Youtube community since it started gaining traction around 2010, published a video in August 2018 revealing that some influencers ask for $60,000 per product-dedicated video, which begs the question — how many of the products discussed in these review videos are truly there because the influencer genuinely loves and uses it?
Bias in makeup isn’t a new thing. The industry has always been inherently skewed, at least when it’s evaluated according to Philip Brey’s definition in “Values in technology and disclosive computer ethics.” Shades of foundation and other face products alone have been rife with user bias — instead of colors spanning the full range of skin tones, products (intentionally or unintentionally) tend to focus on a tiny subsection of lighter, pink-toned shades, which implicitly excludes darker-skinned and olive-toned users. Recent beauty events take this even further (see Tarte’s 2018 shade controversy and Nyma Tang’s The Darkest Shade series).
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| A typical drugstore makeup aisle. Link |
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| Tarte's shade controversy. Link |
This bias also persists in beauty influencers themselves. A search for the term turns up images that are overwhelmingly light, and influencer hotshots like Jeffree Star, Jaclyn Hill, and James Charles are all white. Here, it’s interesting to bring in Brey’s embedded values approach to computer systems. While viewers drive the process in terms of selecting content creators to follow, Youtube itself is not a morally neutral entity. How much ethical weight do we give to the platform in regards to how the algorithms spotlight certain forms of content over others?
Your post unearths a unique take on Brey's discussion of bias, and I love your captivating title. There is definitely an issue of bias when it comes to YouTube/Instagram influencer reviews and makeup shade ranges. That being said, I think you could have further analyzed Brey's definition of bias in paragraph 3. You talk about how makeup fits his definition without adequately delineating what that definition is. Furthermore, I think you could have brought up Brey's take on bias sooner in the blog, such as in the second paragraph. I also got a bit confused in your conclusion, because it seems you are bringing up a new issue-the YouTube algorithm- without explicitly mentioning it previously. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed your post and found it very insightful!
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ReplyDeleteThe topic of your article is very interesting and something that I could definitely relate to as someone with darker skin. You brought up some good points about the different types of bias that exist in the makeup industry and advertising. One thing you might want to think about is bringing up Brey's reading earlier on and focusing on the topics surrounding the reading and using the makeup industry as an example of those ideas rather than the focus of the article. Other than that great job!
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