Lipstick, nail polish... and women in Juárez.

Last week M-A-C Cosmetics and the fashion label Rodarte were in the middle of a controversy after announcing a new line of products inspired by young women working night-shifts in maquiladoras in Ciudad Juárez.

M-A-C even announced the name of some of these new products:  “Juarez” and “Factory” for nail polishes and “Sleepwalker” and “Ghost Town” for lipsticks. None of the products or the marketing campaign alluded to the violent situation that has affected women in Cd. Juarez for almost two decades.

In fact, Cd. Juarez became infamous since 1993, when the killing of young women began to make headlines at the national and international levels.  It is estimated that more than 500 women (this is the most conservative figure) have been raped, tortured and killed from that year to date in the border city.

Whether it was ignorance, naivety or lack of sensitivity, it is obvious that M-A-C and Rodarte committed a mistake, and women organizations, activists and bloggers made both companies to reconsider their decision.  

After a wave of criticism and comments in the blogosphere, the company recognized that its M-A-C Rodarte collection offended consumers and fans. The company apologized and announced that it will give a portion –$100,000– of the proceeds from that collection to a non-profit organization with a successful track record of helping women in need in Juarez.  They also informed that the products of this collection would be renamed.

But the author of Healing Beauty, a blog dedicated to beauty, is promoting an interesting initiative. She is asking the company to donate all profits -not just a portion– from this collection to appropriate non-profit organizations, but also to keep the names of the products in order to raise awareness of the situation in Ciudad Juarez.  She also is proposing to include in their marketing and advertising materials for this launch a message to educate the public, globally, on the exploitation and killing of women in Juárez.

I think her idea is brilliant because companies that make profits thanks to millions and millions of women around the globe are obliged to do something to help women in difficult and extraordinary situations. And the women in Cd. Juárez are just in that category.

Could you imagine Lorea'l, Revlon, Lancome, Cover Girl and many other companies educating the public about violence against woman and specifically about the women situation in Cd.Juárez. That would be revolutionary!

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IN OTHER THINGS…

My previous entry in this blog was about Cayetano Cabrera and his hunger strike in front of Palacio Nacional.  

I’m glad that he didn’t die. After 89 days of camping in the main square of Mexico City’s downtown, he and his 15 co-workers also in a hunger strike were taken to a hospital, while the government finally accepted to start negotiations with the workers affiliated to the Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas. In the next days we’ll know if they already get their jobs back.

Comments

[Cosmetics & fashion]

Very intersting article and had a good time. Very good idea and this is gonna be right path for all womens.https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&send_id=817789614&email=7cff47bb7cdcb76fbfa15e66c81a1961 Keep on sharing more interesting stuffs. Well done job.

[El Paso]

Why should the company "allude" to the situation in Juarez??! I don't get it. And what are they going to name their product now - "The Killer City" polish or "Blood of Juarez" lipstick? That's just weird. There is no need to remind people again and again that they live in hell, they already know it.

[Beauty]

Im always interested to visit this blog.http://www.vivamagonline.com/index.php I love the way you have collected and it sounds great to me. I wanna try this lipstick... Thanks for the info!!!