There is something in fashion that I don’t see very often. I don’t see myself. Sure, I am within the demographic that fashion and beauty companies love to target. But while clothes can be sized to the market, I wonder why the imaging does not seem to follow suit.
These days, fashion reaches the shop floor quicker than we can go SNAP! And fashion knowledge is no longer the domain of fashion students and followers of Videofashion Monthly or Fashion TV. Everyone can get their fix on the web. You guys reading SO: Shah are proof of this.
However, as international fashion trends, set by the style meisters of Paris, New York, London and Milan, dictates that beauty today is either South American or Eastern European, where does that leave the rest of us? How can we be sure that outfit or that product would work for our physical make up, if we are not even represented on the covers of the magazines or on billboards? What does that say about the international view of Asian beauty? Are we even considered beautiful enough to sell a product? Sexual equality has always been a given in fashion. Racial integration to match an expanding marketplace, not quite.
Fashion advertising today works on the paradigm that they will need to represent their primary markets. For some it would mean showing up the Mediterranean look, others the All American Blonde and Blue. Still, perhaps foreign brands such as DKNY and American Eagle Outfitters can’t really be faulted for their branding and advertising strategies. Or can they?
In today’s context, does unilateral imaging imply exclusion?
The LGBT community worldwide collectively understand what it means to be excluded and negatively profiled. It is the driving force for counter movements such as Pride events, calls for gay marriage and equal rights. The bottom line though is that everyone, not just the LGBT community wants and deserves representation, especially in the field of consumerism. The issue is not just about exercising your Pink Dollar, it is also about the dangers of allowing non representation to lead into stereotyping.
In 2002, Abercrombie & Fitch launched a series of T shirts featuring caricatured faces with slanted eyes and rice-paddy hats, with slogans like, ‘Wong Brothers Laundry Service - Two Wongs Can Make It White’ and ‘Wok-N-Bowl.’
It is understood that Asian Americans historically have been in job positions such as owners of laundry shops and Chinese restaurants. Clearly times have changed. However, in 2002, A&F was apparently stuck in a time warp, circa the 1950’s and the world of Suzie Wong. As noted by Mr Hampton Carney, the PR representative for A&F in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle then,”We personally thought Asians would love this T-shirt.”
Not so. The T-shirts caused a minor controversy when they were released, with protests from the Asian American community. They were later pulled from the shelves.
The fact the A&F represented popular culture meant that the T-shirt was not just an article of clothing, it was a poster for managing perceptions and marketing stereotypes. Looking deeper into A&F’s practices, the T-shirt should not have come as a surprise.
The company has had a pro-White policy in both its staffing as well as advertising directions for many years. A lawsuit in 2004, accusing the retailer of promoting whites at the expense of minorities was filed by Asians and Hispanic Americans. It ended with a USD 45 million out of court settlement, which among others, included the implementation of policies that encouraged diversity in its advertising.
One may argue that an American or even European brand should have liberty in deciding its own directions and market forces should be allowed to decide whether those directions are kosher. Certainly, judging by the number of Asians that gravitate into A&F’s retail outlets, race representation seems almost a non-issue.
But what about brands born in Asia? Is it forgivable if these brands choose to market themselves as foreign even as their market and production is Asian? Does it make sense to have Caucasian and pan Asian models sell products to a group of people whose skin and body types are completely different? If the situation was reversed, would an European or American buy from a brand that looks Asian?
One big Asian brand that has chosen to position itself as European in image is G2000.
Here are some facts based on information from its own corporate website. The G2000 Group was founded in 1980 by Michael Tien, a Hong Kong national. And with over 800 outlets in the region covering Hong Kong, Macau, People's Republic of China, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Cyprus and various countries in the Middle-East, it is clear that the company has always targeted the Asian consumer as its primary market base. In fact, it does not have any retail presence in Europe or North America.
However a check on its advertising strategies showed that it has a tendency not to use Asians in its campaigns. It’s most recent television commercial in fact, mirrors concepts often used by the Gap (read: jumping flying dancing Westerners). Its Euro centric slant even extends itself to its online presence, with wallpapers and screensavers only featuring the Caucasian ideal.
I had to ask the question. Why should I buy your clothes if I am seeing them on a White guy? Sure it looks hot on him but will that translate to me? Calls and emails to the G2000’s local and corporate offices, for some clarification about their strategies went unanswered, even as it claims to be responsive to the customer’s needs.
Some in the industry believe that the decision to go foreign in image is a purely business one rather than one that is racially motivated.
Norm Yip, a Hong Kong based visual artist whose diverse portfolio includes work with Jennifer Lopez and Zhang Yimou, notes, “It seems to me that mass-market Asian fashion labels are trying to emulate the American and European equivalents because it's a safe business approach. Hong Kong mass-market brands tend to copy from what has already been proven to work in Europe and the US.”q
Then again, the fact that many Asian countries were once colonies of Western powers, have undoubtedly left a strong Pinkerton mentality behind. Intra racism perhaps? As Mr Yip goes on to say, “I once heard someone say that when speaking of a high-flier in the business world, one would most likely have the mental picture of a white man. Maybe many do think that way. The same line of reason may also explain why brands like Cour Carre, Baleno and others use very non-Asian names despite being Asian companies.“
Another point Norm brought up was the Hollywood factor, where glitz, glamor and sophistication is closely associated with the West. Indeed Filipino label Kamiseta not only sells clothes with that West Coast USA look, it also employed Tinseltown’s Kate Hudson as its celebrity model in its 2007 advertising campaign. In the past they have used Natalie Portman and Alicia Silverstone. In a country of seriously gorgeous home grown celebrities, this move can almost be seen as the company thumbing its nose on the marketability of its own stars.
Still perception is everything. And if companies believe that they have successfully tapped the Asian buying psychology, have we as consumers set ourselves up for this and allowed ourselves to be disregarded by our own home grown brands?
Indeed, if you look at Asian fashion magazines, especially the local editions of international titles, more than half of their editorials are dominated by Caucasians and pan Asians. So even Asian fashion editors seem to favor foreign faces to sell their magazines and by extension, the products found within the pages. Truth is, fashion editors work on market trends. So, the question you may want to answer for yourself is,”Are you more likely to buy the magazine if you see a foreign model in its pages?”
The answer you give may actually determine whether or not you will ever be represented in Asian fashion advertising. It is all about demand and supply. The high demand by Asian fashion companies and magazines for foreign models, which could very well be a reaction to market needs, are resulting in the slow demise of Asian ones.
Acclaimed Singaporean photographer, Wai Tek notes, “The supply of foreign or pan Asian
models far exceeds that of Asian models. There are about 6 major modeling agencies in Singapore and almost 90% of the models they represent are foreign or pan Asian. The higher demand in foreign models results in fewer Asian models been represented. This supply and demand forms a cycle such that Asian models are diminishing in numbers.”
Norm Yip concurs, especially when it comes to Asian male models. “(They) are few and far between, as there's just not enough work for them. I came to that conclusion when I turned to modeling agencies for new models for my books. On their websites – and mind you, they are Hong Kong-based agencies – you'd see so many Caucasian models but much fewer Asian ones.”
While it is indisputable that the Asian fashion industry does favor foreigners, things may not be that bad. Sure I personally would like to see Singapore, for example, go back to where it was in the 1980’s, where local models dominated the scene and appeared in major editorials, campaigns and runway shows. I for one, felt I could relate better to the images and that translated in dollar spend.
And if the economics of fashion will determine what we see from it, perhaps a slight shift in the paradigm is already happening.
Major American label, Gap, recently had actors Lucy Liu and Ken Watanabe in their campaign. And in a surprising move, trend setting beauty and cosmetics brand M.A.C. selected Taiwanese singing superstar A-Mei to front a major make up collection. The fact that this collection was released internationally spoke volumes in terms of how beauty was being re-defined by the company, and how the Asian market is rising in prominence for its bottom line. In fact, the company has even gone further by launching products in Asia first before the West, such as it Lightful skin care range in 2007, reputedly developed in Asia with properties beneficial to Asian skins.
The irony though, is that if change is to happen, it will still need to be triggered by Western companies. Perhaps in the final analysis, Asians are just too practical to care about being represented. Most would say that as long as the product looks and fits great, and has a price point to match, who cares about what is on the shopfront window or in the broadsheets?
Still, if we are ever going to see ourselves as beautiful and marketable, perhaps that impetus should come from our own home grown brands and fashion industry, rather than having it determined by outside forces. And by that time, Western companies would feel more of a need to understand Asian beauty from our point of view, rather than through blue eyes.
