How has the body positivity movement impacted colorism in media marketing communications?

Media marketing communications are one of the main ways companies keep their customers informed of their products or activities. They have been proven to be successful at reaching a company’s target group, this is also true for cosmetics companies. Generally speaking, these communications feature hegemonically beautiful people who meet Eurocentric beauty standards. However, for many minority groups, particularly Black communities, media representation is a point of contention. As their looks do not typically align with Eurocentric beauty standards, they receive less media representation. When they are represented, it is typically done from a limiting or inaccurate point of view. Similar arguments can be made for representation within cosmetics This has been the norm for many years, but the body positivity movement is working to change this and promote more natural and realistic standards of beauty. Many people look to the media as a source of representation. Proper representation is important as many people, particularly adolescents, rely on the media to help construct their views and opinions regarding body image. Having narrow views of beauty or poor representation contributes to these groups experiencing low self-esteem or body image issues. Furthermore, without good representation, many minority groups harbor feelings of inferiority or even nonexistence. With that said, the researcher chose to investigate how the introduction of the body positivity movement impacted colorism in media marketing communications featuring Black female models. Therefore, this research project will focus on identifying what constitutes colorism, how it affects Black representation and body positivity, and how it presents itself in print marketing communications. In terms of approach, online databases were used to filter through and retrieve the advertisements. In total, 100 ads were collected and analyzed. In terms of processing the content, a visual content analysis was conducted to code the images, while a thematic analysis was used for the codes. Additionally, the thematic analysis was used to identify the relevant themes and patterns within the data. Moreover, the ads from cosmetics companies were analyzed. Specifically, pictorial print advertisements were used for this study. The results from the analysis indicated that the body positivity movement has shifted the presence of colorism within these marketing communications. Additionally, the data yielded three major themes: skin tone, facial features, and hair type. Within each theme, there was evidence that showcased the diminished effect of Eurocentrism, and increasing effects of Afrocentrism. The findings of this study revealed that though colorism was evident in the marketing communications, its presence and prominence have been significantly diminished. This is due to a significantly higher level of Afrocentrism present than what was deemed the standard based on theory and literature. Additionally, these findings indicated that the body positivity movement made an impact on colorism within the marketing communications. This is attributed to the fact that many communications opted to embrace a more natural or Afrocentric look through the visibility of dark skin, full lips, and short kinky hair.