Interesting fact - I described this ad image to my mum, and Illamasqua's disappointing reaction; the interesting part is that she hasn't seen this photo and she knew exactly what I was describing, even bringing up blackface and golliwogs on her own (unprompted, I merely described what it looked like and that's where her mind went to straight off).

BTW, anyone really handy with photoshop, and secondly, I cannot find a bio on Alex Box anywhere. What nationality is she? I know it's not American or British.

FTR, anyone else think this ad and the endorsement of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation antitheses of each other? That photo appears to project racism, prejudice and intolerance, exactly what S.O.P.H.I.E. stands for...feels a bit like kicking a horse while it's down...they really didn't think about their endorsement and association with the Lancasters when people told them they found it offensive etc,? Seriously? 

Yeah, they should have known better.  Intent doesn't matter with racism.  It's the act that matters.  Blackface is never okay for any reason.  Or something that so closely resembles blackface.  Their response is essentially a whine.  "Waaaaah we didn't even consider the implications of our ad but come on guise freedom of expression."  Freedom of expression is one thing.  Sure, it's valuable.  BUT we always have to consider how our expression will appear to others and how it jives with history.  Expression doesn't happen in a vacuum.  I most definitely will not be buying anything from their holiday collection and will think very seriously about not buying from Illamasqua ever again.  What a horrible response they gave, trying to defend something that is indefensible.

Thanks so much for covering this. I was one of the original commenters on the Australian thread (which was deleted by Illamasqua) and I tipped the story to Jezebel in its infancy, where other media outlets then picked it up.

Illasmaqua have done a terrible job with this, not just with the poorly executed, uncreative campaign, but with their failure to listen to customers. It is irrelevent if they didn't mean to offend, the important thing is that people are very offended and have let the brand know over and over. Illamasqua has not only continued using the damaging image, but has ignored complaints and concerns. They DO NOT care that they are now actively hurting many people, and that is a brand I will not buy from in future.

For anyone interested, here is my post on the issue, including screencaps of the original thread that was deleted by Illamasqua. http://www.latherrinserepeat.com.au/2012/11/illamasqua-and-blackface-study-in-poor.html

Phyrra, I really appreciate you voicing your concern to Illamasqua. I am beyond disappointed not only by the images but by their response to the backlash. It's to depict the color ON the skin, not OF the skin? What do they think blackface was? Regardless of their intentions or oblivion to racist history, if they see people disturbed by the images, they should simply remove them. It saddens me because I loved the concept behind the brand, "Makeup for your alter ego," but sadly I cannot in good faith purchase any products from them.  

Honestly, unlike some on here, I do think that this is a raciest ad and the creators were raciest. Flat out prejudice isn't that common these days, but subconscious racism is. It's in the air we breathe, we can't grow up in this culture without it affecting us somehow. So what can we do? Talk about, listen to what people of other races have to say, think about how our experiences in society are different. We can't just shrug it off when the topic is brought up.If you are conscious of racial issues, there is no way you could come up with something like this and think it's ok. This calls to mind a very hateful topic in our history, one that should not be approached without some serious sensitivity. And lets be real, many of the nasty stereotypes minestral shows perpetuated are still around today, so we can't be so dismissive of the past.

I think the ad was likely not intended to be racist, but I simply cannot fathom that someone at the company didn't say, "Hey guys, don't you think this could kind of be construed in a racist manner? Maybe we need to switch it up." What if they did two completely different colors? Maybe silver and gold (OK, cliche holiday, but I think it would change the tone). I also agree that the lip color choice is exacerbating the problem.

ClumpsofMascara is spot-on in noting that we don't even know what this ad is for! I also agree with Phyrra that it is definitely disappointing as the next advert after the amazing Generation Q.

She is black--the color, not the race--on one side and white--the color, not the race on the other.  Relax.

This image obviously does not depict a white person imitating a black person, which is what blackface was about.  It is a visual statement only, not a social one.

I feel like if they had another image with a different color paint, it wouldn't ring blackface to me and would be more Illamasqua.  As it is, I really feel like they ought to have had someone catch this before it went to publication.

I see the rep's point and what they were *trying* to do but out of context, it seems very offensive to me.  Even in context it's somewhat offensive but perhaps I'm sensitive.

What Illamasqua have always set out to do...is infact attempt to further folks thinking wih regard to traditional beauty and this of course may unsettle some folk whom are predominantly stuck in the past. Cmon- consider the media images we are faced with, that symbolize new entities and or exciting possiblities? Avatar? the xmen? youve realy got consider the big picture and where YOU draw your references from.

 YOU SEE WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE.

I thought this was just a marketing campaign in Australia because this blew up on the Australian Illamasqua Facebook page a couple of days ago but I saw no mention of it on the main Illamasqua page. The Huffington post article also notes other racist Australian ad campaigns, even though Illamasqua and creative director Alex Box are British. There were a couple of women on the Australian page who said they were women of colour and not offended by this but they were largely outnumbered by women (not sure of their race, they didn't state it) who were offended. I'm mostly surprised that of the number of people that must have been involved in making this campaign, nobody stopped and thought, 'this might offend people'. Like Illamasqua said, obviously they weren't intending to be racist, but the ad stills comes off that way and is in poor taste.

I actually find this quite interesting to see a company remain steadfast in the face of public outcry.  If anything, it gives a very clear picture (whether it's artistic expression, pr flub or offensive ignorance) and how one chooses to perceive it is entirely up to them.

All the buzz also gives me the impression that many people want to see that apology simply so they feel comfortable continuing to purchase from them - rather than boycotting the brand over something that may or may not be personally offensive.  All of it reminds me of the Rodarte fiasco from MAC a while back.I've also been wondering if it would it have been more acceptable and artistic if the model had been black?  Would it have been more of an exercise in contrast or still offensive, since the 'black' skin still would have been darker than the model?

I'm more disappointed in their response than the original ad. The ad was careless, but the response was myopic and insensitive. I don't often say this because I don't like to fall into pitchforks and bandwagons, but I will seriously reconsider before purchasing any Illamasqua in the future.

Wow, how HORRIBLE of Illamasqua. Ignoring years of oppression...

I'm glad to see that so many people are upset with this. Not all my hope for humanity is lost. Now if you we can get to work on Sugar Skulls are Halloween costumes...

This is so funny (funny weird, not funny haha) because I just showed this ad to my (black) husband and he said "whatever. No big deal." And I'm (white) super offended. At the very least this was Poorly executed, naive and demonstrated a deep lack of historical knowledge. This is why history is important, people!

I find it very unappealing and questionable in judgement.  I usually enjoy the uniqueness of the brand's ads and campaigns but I find this just sad.  Why settle on this type of imagery when they could have done something extraordinary and positive. 

Not acceptable on any level. Calling something this pervasively offensive "art" and laughing off peoples' concerns smacks of hubris. Badly done, Illamasqua. 

I'm just going to go with wow. Wish they had used the right photo with multiple dramatic looks or something. I just... Wow.

Personally I don't see the problem. They obviously aren't trying to create controversy or be racist. They are using colors unnatural to anyone's skin to make the colors of the makeup stand out. It's just as when we put paintings on a black or white background to make them stand out. I'm really pale, should I take offense to painting the model so white? No. This is the 21st century. We need to move forward and stop thinking everything is meant to be racist or offensive. 

I absolutely think that they should pull this ad. I would like to see more beauty bloggers getting in touch with Illamasqua to let them know how upsetting and disappointing this ad is. Yours is the first post I've seen with communication directly to and from Illamasqua (although The Science of Chic did share this image on Tumblr and acknowledged that she found it offensive, which is how I found out about it). I admit that I don't follow very many other beauty blogs, though. Regardless, thank you for bringing this issue to light and for communicating your displeasure to Illamasqua.

As for their deeply lackluster response, I'll just say that I'm incredibly disappointed at how they're handling this. Their official statement is completely unacceptable. I will not be purchasing from Illamasqua again.

Thank for bringing more attention to this Phyrra. As soon as I saw the image I felt something in the pit of my stomach. It's not just the makeup,the bow tie, the top hat, the pink lips! Why not red to mirror the other image if it was completely innocent? Although, it wouldn't make it much better. The fact that they are fine offending so many people instead of spending some extra time and money says a lot about the brand. I don't care how much I invested ,their products are being removed from my kit and going in the trash.

Has anyone seen this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Minstrel_PosterBillyVanWare_edit.jpg

 The lip color is EXACT. Even the bowtie's (one red and one is white). 

At first I was like "ugh people being dramatic again over an ad" then I did some research and wow, this is MORE than a coincidence. It's also interesting that they have the black and white on one side in the ad just like in the wikipedia picture! Someone is up to something and needs to be fired. It's sad we still live in a world like this. 

Ok, I'm confused.  Are they saying they didn't think that it would be paralleled to blacking up, or that they didn't think that it would would cause offence and bad feeling because it's about the 'make-up' and it's all arty.  Just wondering as, why else is she in a bow tie and top hat?

So their response can basically be summed up as "lol YOLO"?  Brilliant PR there, guys.  

I mean, it's pretty obvious that no, it's not "blackface" in that it's not done with the intent to make a white person look like an actual black person.  But when you're talking about such a nasty and pervasive history, even the appearance of similarity to the actual practice is really not okay.  And...yes, it's the same model.  But look at the lips, the way they did them.  They're way exaggerated and the shape is actually different in the blackface image versus the white side, and in a pale color like that...I can't help but think that's not accidental.  

The choice of lipsticks just makes things look even odder, IMO.

"The image will not be pulled as it has been our leadChristmas campaign image for over a month now and it’s only been in the past 24hours that we have seen some back lash to this one particular image." 

The translation that is going through my head "We spent a ton of money on this campaign and OMGU GUYSE ARE SO MEAN AN DON'T UNDERSTAND MY ART!!!"They should ask Amanda F'ing Palrmer how well that worked out for her.