REAL FEMALE MAKE-UP ARTIST to be ON CAMERA (NYC)
Date: 2011-10-30, 12:12PM EDT
Reply to: see below [Errors when replying to ads?]
FEMALE MAKE-UP ARTIST, Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian or Ethnically Ambiguous female, late 20's / early 30's who is a make-up artist in real life. Talent should be interesting, cool (but not too alternative, punky/grungy), real, engaging and personable with her clients. Almay really want someone who will offer up 'pro tips' -- the best way to apply. . . the best type of brush. . . how to blend color etc -- all in simple language. Good hands necessary.
Almay - Non-union Promo
Auditions: Weds, Nov. 2
Callbacks: Thurs. Nov 3 Afternoon
Shoots: Nov 13 and/or Nov. 14th
Location: NYC
Rate: $500 per day
E-mail Headshot (or even a current photo if a non-actor) with make-up experience and contact ASAP to
Hmm ... Now, (deep breath), yesterday, when I saw the ad, yes, it did cause my eyebrow to twitch. But just a twitch. I think it was a natural thing for me to notice how pointedly this ad was directed at every other ethnic combination a female could possible be, except one like me, an African-American woman. But the longer you've been a Black woman in America, the more racism in its myriad forms you've probably experienced, and as such, have learned to move on from. You can't stop every single time and be shattered. You learn that just because they don't see your beauty, doesn't mean it isn't there, plain as day. And an ad that might as well read "All female make-up artists except African-American ones please audition ..." gets to being worth no more than the time it takes an eyebrow to twitch.But then today, I noticed the e-mail thread had come to life with one artist expressing her belief that the ad is racist and saying that she is offended. The majority of the reactions after her came from women who acknowledged that the ad might look racist, but maintained that it was just an example of the nature of the business, no different than, say, the need to cast a Black, or Latina model, in order to appeal to an ethnic audience.
It wasn't a huge hullabaloo, a small group of women discussing, but still, it gave me pause. I wondered if I had grown so jaded I'd gone numb, like one of the complacent many it takes to perpetrate any kind of systemic injustice. I wondered if I should have felt more than a brow twitch. And if yes, who else should've been offended? Male make-up artists? Make up artists outside the specified age range?...
What say you?
