knepperhorn: Can Kerry Washington Fix the Magazine Industry's Problem with Black Women?

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Can Kerry Washington Fix the Magazine Industry's Problem with Black Women? Read more at ONTD: Oh No They Didn't! - Can Kerry Washington Fix the Magazine Industry's Problem with Black

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Join Date: Oct 2011

Location: Pennsylvannia

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Can Kerry Washington Fix the Magazine Industry's Problem with Black Women?

Read more at ONTD: Oh No They Didn't! - Can Kerry Washington Fix the Magazine Industry's Problem with Black Women?

Kerry Washington is finally getting the magazine covers many have long said she deserves. The Scandal actress had Elle all to herself in June and shared the cover of The Hollywood Reporter with other television actresses, but perhaps her bigest coup is August's Vanity Fair cover, released today. Now the quest is on to make it sell, as a successful venture for Vanity Fair?and hopefully a change in some of the magazine industry's most frustrating newsstand attitudes.

Washington would seem like an ideal candidate for a magazine cover. She's on a hit television show. She's beautiful. She's got interesting things to say. But, of course, she is black.

Magazines have a terrible habit of being reluctant to put black women on their covers.

This often becomes noticeable when a publication like VF or The Hollywood Reporter does a group cover, but it's long been a problem. Way back in 2002, David Carr wrote a story for the New York Times about Halle Berry's "improbable feat" as a Cosmopolitan cover girl. Carr wrote that "in many broad-circulation magazines, the unspoken but routinely observed practice of not using nonwhite cover subjects -- for fear they will depress newsstand sales -- remains largely in effect." In Erik Maza's March article for Women's Wear Daily about magazine cover sales, Rihanna was mentioned as a worst seller for Vogue. (A Latina woman, Jennifer Lopez, however, sold well for InStyle.)

As Dodai Stewart at Jezebel?who has been chronicling the campaigns to get Washington on more magazine covers?notes, Washington's new VF cover is pretty historic. A black woman hasn't been on the magazine's cover for six years, and even then it was Beyonc? joined by two men. A black woman hasn't had a VF cover to herself since, yes, again, Beyonc? in 2005.

But there's a burgeoning movement on Twitter to get the word out about buying the magazine. Some fans are simply stating that they will be buying the magazine for the first time because of Washington.

Buy this magazine. Show them it sells. Show them you want to see more women over the age of 35 on major magazines. Show them you want to see more BLACK women over the age of 35 on major magazine covers. Show them you want to see more Black women PERIOD on the covers of major magazines. Show them that diversity sells.

It's a call to action that deserves heeding.

Read more at ONTD: Oh No They Didn't! - Can Kerry Washington Fix the Magazine Industry's Problem with Black Women?

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Join Date: Apr 2004

Posts: 18,364

So true. Nigerians know what time it is. That's why they are building their own refineries (Dangote Group) and media empires (ARISE TV and Magazine). They are tired of the b.s. and realize they can take ownership from the man.

Quote:

As long as you keep begging for crumbs from the table AND being satisfied with those crumbs,you will never get a full meal.

WE have to support OUR own. Stop asking these people to include us and acting like if someone/something has a White stamp of approval,that means they've reached the Holy Grail.

We talk shit about support,but when it comes time to do that and lay out money,we WON'T do it. Black people have a very nasty habit of wanting White praise/acceptance,but believing anything Black is somehow subpar. Or do do start something and let others take it over,losing its original purpose completely.

__________________

There's a fear that sets in. The moment our belief system challenges our position, we get afraid...and in this fear, we begin to get in what I call scavenger mode and survival mode, where we want to hold on to everything that we have so much that we want to keep it; not realizing that the power is in the RELEASE. There is nothing worth compromising your relationship with God over. - DeVon Franklin

Last edited by suzanne; 07-06-2013 at 02:50 AM..

The Senior Officer

Join Date: Sep 2010

Posts: 4,475

Quote:

When you claim that you are a magazine catering to all people, then balance needs to be reflected accordingly. If you have black readers, there is no reason why a black face should not be featured on the cover. It's the same with Latinas and Asians. Folks are colostruck. Please tell me why a film about a Negro baseball player was being promoted mostly as a Harrison Ford film. The guy who played Jackie Robinson didn't even get a talk show spot ("The View") until the day before it was released. The weeks prior it was being tooted as a Harrison Form film and only Harrison was out promoting. I think I saw Chadwick Boseman on Jimmy Kimmel after the film debut. If random, nondescript white chicks can be on covers, then the same should be afforded to everyone else. They put Kerry on the cover but that's only because they think of her as a tanned version of them.

At the end of the day theyve made it clear that their primary focus is white people. And Im sure whites are their primary buyers....so they will cater to them more so than any other.

The jackie robinson film says it all....made by whites? Marketed towards whites. So its not even surprising that it was packaged in such a way. The solution would be for blacks to do two things. Not see the film....and produce one that we agree with. Waiting for others to do this is a waste of time. It cant get any clearer than with the example you cited.

Those random nondescript white chicks are typically on the magazine covers of white owned and maintained magazines....so yeah. They will get the priority above all other outsiders. Again these companies have made it clear that they arent interested in representing everyone equally and they arent going to displace themselves in their own media with their own industries. It just isnt realistic or logical to expect that. Infact it would be beneficial to recognize that this is the reality instead of deluding ourselves.

Now we can complain as much as we want but white people will NEVER give us a seat at the table of their media machine in equal numbers to themselves. As a response black people should build up their own media machine and support us when and where we can.

Quote:

As long as you keep begging for crumbs from the table AND being satisfied with those crumbs,you will never get a full meal.

WE have to support OUR own. Stop asking these people to include us and acting like if someone/something has a White stamp of approval,that means they've reached the Holy Grail.

We talk shit about support,but when it comes time to do that and lay out money,we WON'T do it. Black people have a very nasty habit of wanting White praise/acceptance,but believing anything Black is somehow subpar. Or do do start something and let others take it over,losing its original purpose completely.

Hear Hear!

Last edited by Hans Landa; 07-06-2013 at 02:57 AM..