Over the past few weeks on Twitter, there has been a battle raging between #teamlightskin and #teamdarkskin, sparked in part by a โLight Skinned Versus Dark Skinnedโ party taking place in Ohio on January 21 (see this Clutch Magazine article for more info on that.) The Mixed Chicks brand decided to get in on the fun and tweeted,
#teamlightskin sure hope all will try @Mixedchicks to care 4 those curls.
Naturally, black women responded in outrage because the brand has a large following among women who arenโt bi-racial or light skinned.
Now, I can see where Mixed Chicks is coming from; they seemed to be seizing an opportunity to reach their target demographic, since there is a huge overlap between bi/multi-racial women, light skin and curly hair. BUT, it should be common knowledge that curly haired women cover the color spectrum, and bi-racial women come in all complexions.
The โtweeterโ behind Mixed Chicksโ account went on to say that they sent messages to several different โteamsโ, but a blogger tracking the story didnโt see a #teamdarkskin tweet. (Feel free to email me the link if it exists, so that I can update this story.)
For a more detailed account of the situation, please check out this article on SakitaHolley.com, but in the meanwhile what are your thoughts on the whole situation?
Thanks Erin for posting this story on the BGLH Facebook page.
Pure foolishness -
both the party and messages to โteam dark skin and team lightskin.โ mixed chicks should have known better. it was just not okay and uncalled for, given that the wealth of history and the divisions caused by skin tone are STIll rife within the black community. Maybe 20 years after skin color ceases to become an issue, we can send messages to โteam lightskin aand team darksin.โ until then.โฆ itโs foolishness
ooohhhh whether they sent messages to both โteamsโ or just one (which is a tiny weeny bit worst), it was just insensitive!
Oh the foolishness that goes on! i didnโt even know anything about these teams at war, WTH???? ๐
I had no idea this was going on. As for the brand, shame on them. There is no reason why they should be feeding into a trend like this in order to gain more customers. They might lose more than they gain in the long run. I think anything that sparks more controversy within the black community is dumb. Frankly because we are already separated from other races and separating within ourselves will never allow us to reach our full potential.
Very very annoying. Especially since it is a way for bi-racials to further exoticize and separate themselves from their black sisters. I mean, come on. I know mixed people who are darker in complexion than many of my supposedly โnon-mixedโ friends. Weโre all mixed chicks if weโre black. Itโs just all really stupid and depressing. Time to let this old timey crap go.
I think they just re-branded their products #dumbchicksโฆ or #ignorantchicks. Theyโve just cheapened their brand and their image and its not a good look. I wish we could go back to where being natural meant that you were enlightened not only by your hair but about education and confronting ignorance in general. Seems like we have yet to comb the kinks out of our minds.โฆ
and the struggle continuesโฆ
LMBAO @ dumbchicks! Um yeah that was tacky. ALso, pretty silly considering that as someone else mentioned Iโve known sisters black as licorice with curly hair and mixed people with ultra tight 4C hair.
It happens.
People just need to stay off twitter and facebook. They stay shooting themselves in the foot.
Totally agree w/gs!
Very well said. I co-sign this sentiment!
ANDโฆ Iโm a New Englander, Pats fan, darkskin with Natural 4bโc hairโฆ so I guess thatโs the big FโU 3 timesโฆ
rule #1 in business โ assume nothing.
This is one of the dumbest marketing ploys Iโve ever encountered. Mixed Chicks should have kept their nose of out this silliness, because that is exactly what this โbeefโ is โ pure silliness.
Here is the link to the twitter page: http://twitter.com/mixedchicks This example is why I donโt have a twitter account and I think easy access media (twitter, facebook, etc.) does more harm than good. Heads of companies are normal people and they make remarks just as we all do from time to time. In an age where every thought can my publicized a couple of seconds after you think it, things like this happen. If you look at the page it looks more like a personal account than a company account (ex.rooting for sports teams). The person managing this account should… Read more »
Oh and they do reference other โteamsโ such as โteam curlyโ and โteam blasianโ but none of theses are in the realm of skin tone.
โthe person managing this account should probably just use it for promotion and events, and create a personal account for themselves (COMMON SENSE).โ
No crud! I have a business Twitter account and I only use it for business related announcements โ not to get embroiled in social media mudslinging. Ugh. Mixed Chicks really stirred up an antโs nest with this one. *shakes head*
The updated tweets arenโt much better, Iโm hoping this is an issue with whomever theyโve utilized to maintain the page and not the expression of the owners. And if that is the case and the owners are smart theyโll get rid of that individual ASAP!
โThis example is why I donโt have a twitter account and I think easy access media (twitter, facebook, etc.) does more harm than good.โ Me too! And I refuse to get on facebook.
OK, I guess I hit the return key too quickly?.โฆ I also wanted to add that Twitter is the new โdrunk dialingโ except that people arenโt usually drunk when they tweet nonsense. There is no filter!! Twitter and reality television will be the downfall of humanity as we know itโฆ
that tweet was beyond stupid. anyone with even just a vague understanding of american race relations would know that joining the #teamlightskin #teamdarkskin tweets was a bad idea.
What would you expect from a company who names their product โmixed chicksโ ? I was already giving them the *side eye* for naming their product โmixed chicksโ and this story just confirms my suspicions. When running a business you want to stay away from as much negativity as possible!! A light skin vs. dark skin debate is absolutely not the time nor place to start marketing your product, itโs just not a good look at all, especially if you have a silly name like โmixed chicks.โ smh @ black peopleโฆ
cosign. i always thought the brandโs name was, um, questionable.
I completely agree with this! Their website in the beginning clearly stated who they were marketing, not to say that other Black women couldnโt use their products but letโs be real here, all natural curls are not the same. And sistas really, really, REALLY need to wake up to that. Just because a product or hair collection is geared toward โnatural curlsโ donโt mean all natural curls, or coils or kinks or whatever you want to call them. We canโt get mad for Mixed Chicks for what they done. Of course they are team light skin, they are light skin! Just like… Read more »
I get where you are coming from, but are they themselves team light skin or their company/brand? They should have differentiate between their 2 identities. I agree with the previous comment that said they should have had separate business accounts, for the brand is mixed chicks and mixed girls come in various shades, how can a brand support one shade of colour and alienate another shade based on the assumption that mixed chicks are light skinned?
โmixed girls come in various shades, how can a brand support one shade of colour and alienate another shade based on the assumption that mixed chicks are light skinned?โ
THIS is the crux of the matter for me. Thank you.
I would add that the hair of many a โmixed chickโ runs the gamut of texture, thickness and curlโฆjust like many of us who are not โmixedโ (at least by a few generations).
I agree! I thought the same thing when I first saw their products last year online. The name of the product turned me off and I did not even give them a try. They made it clear who they want to buy their products, so they will never get my money!
SO agree with you! i gave a side eye for the name too. im not mixed so the product obviously isnt meant for me. this stunt really killed it for me though.
I thought I was the only person who gave them the *side eye* for the name of the product! As a light skin African American woman I did not feel welcomed to use the product. By โMixedโ I fig they were not talking to me or any of my other sistaโs who were not such. SMDH. I didnt care if the cure to all my curl problems were in one of their bottles (which from the reviews Ive read that cure wouldnt be) I wont be using them.
And, I know to stay away from this company and itโs products, they wonโt be getting any of my business. It doesnโt matter if they sided with team light skin or team dark skin or both, itโs just unacceptable, period.
I threw up in my mouth a little when I read โ#teamlightskinโ and โ#teamdarkskinโ โ more of the same old crap! The companyโs name is bad enough but I didnโt take issue with it as much because I figured that was just part of their marketing. But to actually wanna jump in on the whole light versus dark (even if it is โjust for funโ) thing is just inexcusable. Shame on who ever came up with the competition, the participants AND DEFINITELY SHAME ON MIXED CHICKS! SMMFH!
All I can say is why did they even bother saying anything? I was actually very happy to see an advertisement for them on a bill board last week. Big mistake Mixed Chicks.
Are we really doing this in 2011?
Mess..
I never purchased their products because I sorta felt like they werenโt for me even though I was relaxed. Too overpriced and iโm not mixed. But now that iโm transitioning and searching new products iโm glad they reaffirmed my decision not to give them any of my money. Sallyโs is coming out with Mixed Silk products that are supposed to be like theirs anyways.
omfg. clearly that company is run by idiots.
either they didnโt listen to their pr person, the pr person gave them the wrong advice, or they donโt have a pr person to advise them.
or maybe they are just in need of good old-fashion common business sense that says โ donโt alienate or antagonize customers or potential customers, or business partners for that matter.
either way, they made the wrong decision, no matter what their position on the matter is. it was flat out stoooopid, almost laughably so.
YUP
Very tacky. And just untrue that there is this huge overlap between curly hair and light skin. It just seems as if black people are willing to assume that, but if anyone conducted such an pointless study, I kind of doubt that the results would back that up. The two things are not genetically linked like that. I mean, even the concept behind their product to me is a bit much, since the hair of biracial people runs the gamut from straight to kinky just like ours. I find the marketing to be a bit ignorant, and Iโve never understood the… Read more »
not to mention that if you identify yourself as โblackโ, you acknowledge that you are probably of mixed racial descent anywaysโฆ
Thank you, I was just about to say what does curls, kinks, or coils have to do with skin color or the fact that your biracial? Certain curl pattern isnโt solely mutually exclusive to one skin tone or heritage so I donโt get it. Personally, I think the whole party and the team dark skin and team light skin is ignorant and dumb as hell like really black is black. As for the company they should have known that they would catch heat and that it was inappropriate marketing no matter which team they said first. Personally, I never use… Read more »
This was completely the worst PR move ever. I never brought Mixed Chicks nor planned to because of mixed reviews but choosing Team whatever is just juvenile. Hopefully, they will step back and issue an apology for being so ignorant.
the thing about teamlightskin vs teamdarkskin is that you never actually feel like anyone is really for teamdarkskin. Even when beautiful comes in every shade. Even when hair texture, eye color and other phenotypes transcend skin tone.โฆ.โฆ..light skin is forever favored. Lil Wayne says on a song, โbeautiful black woman bet that ***** look better Red.โ So it just seems like a phony battle. A battle, a division, that shouldnโt even exist. Beauty is beauty.
Forget my personal experience โ this was just a bad business move. As a woman w/naturally curly hair โ i know i wonโt purchase their products. If they donโt have good judgement in something like this, i canโt trust them in any other way.โฆ
Their products are sub par and overpriced anywayโฆ
Itโs this colorism within the Black race that sometimes makes me wish I could just live on a deserted island and just not deal with anybody, just live in isolation; me, a few people I really care about, and nature.
When will it stop?
Agreed.
Iโve felt the same way before. There must be so many like me that read this tired old stuff and just choose not to comment because it is such a slave mentality within the black community with this kind of stuff. When will it die?
How do you kill a zombieโฆ โWEโ supposedly buried the nโword and yet it still lives. When something transcends death like thatโฆ its a problem that needs to be some kind of supernatural solutionโฆlol
Meh, this sounds like a bad idea all around.
I had heard about the lightskinned/darkskinned party on media takeout a couple of wks ago but i had no idea this foolishness was all on twitter. I thought it was ridiculous, and anybody with sense would, so I donโt get why a business person would want to be associated with this nonsense. But what makes it extra irritating is the fact that they rep a brand called Mixed Chicks, so to me theyโre sending out a msg that they think the light skinned wavy or looser curled hair is better. Even if they meant it as a joke thereโs still… Read more »
Gross. Thatโs the first word I thought of when I read this. But, maybe tacky & immature are better descriptions. Their name โMixedChicksโ always made me feel โsome type of wayโ. And their previous websites et al werenโt too welcoming. Iโm so glad I never gave them my money!
They said they tweeted to different teams, but they NEVER tweeted to #teamdarkskin. I guess theyโre not interested in THAT head of hair. โ_-
The Beautiful One 17 January 2011 at 8:53 pm Permalink What would you expect from a company who names their product โmixed chicksโ ? I was already giving them the *side eye* for naming their product โmixed chicksโ and this story just confirms my suspicions. When running a business you want to stay away from as much negativity as possible!! A light skin vs. dark skin debate is absolutely not the time nor place to start marketing your product, itโs just not a good look at all, especially if you have a silly name like โmixed chicks.โ smh @ black peopleโฆ… Read more »
That was about the dumbest thing ever! Terrible from a PR perspective. Their on my list now. Someone over there is just not smart.
Oh the nonsense โฆshould we start #team medium skin tooโฆ
And here am thinking these so called companies could be a professional business. If we canโt stop a problem with ourselves how do we expect to move on?
I have always steered clear of this brand simply because of the name โ itโs highly offensive and does more to allienate than entice a shopper. Apart from that I was given a free sample of its deep conditioner and leave in conditioner and i was NOT impressed โ left my hair dry and tangly..so with all that plus this clear case of prejudice and ignorance I will continue to steer clear of the brand. I donโt understand how you can be a beauty product but only support one idea of beautyโฆsomethingโs wrong with that philosophy right there. They need to… Read more »
Whoever is in charge of their twitter feed needs be fired. Itโs going to take them a long time of laying low to recover from this mess theyโve gotten themselves into.
I never did like the idea of mixed chicks. As one commentor said, there are plenty of black women who are not considered mixed or biracial whose curls are loose and plenty of mixed women whose coils are tight as can be. Canโt it just be curls and coils, regardless of whether you consider yourself mixed or not.
Foolish move fueled by ignorance.. Not purchasing their products & encouraging my friends not to support them.
[โฆ] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne said: Mixed Chicks supports team light skin on Twitter โ Black Girl With โฆ: Even when beautiful comes in every shadeโฆ http://bit.ly/dKE4dC [โฆ]
1. This debate is ridiculous and any who attended that party should really do some introspection.
2. I donโt know who handles their marketing, but itโs really obvious that someone else is needed. STAT!
And yes Iโm another that hasnโt bought โmixed chicksโ because the name doesnโt sit right with me.
Itโs up there with a company that would be named.
Dark Brown Sisters Hair Cream
Blasians Beauty Hair Oil
etc, etc. Is is about ethnicity or hair type???
Silly Rabbits, tricks are for kids. :/
I do not like to dwell on the skintone issue..since MOST black people seem to be are just different variations of brown skin. I never used Mixed Chicks products just because of the name. Iโm a bit older(32)than some of the folks on here and truly remember the hatred and division that comes with comparing skintone. I have went through this in my own family, sad to say. People like the owners of Mixedchicks like to focus on the differences of โmixed-peopleโ because they know they are more accepted in Amercian society-which seems to be natural because most of America… Read more »
I never gave them or their products the time of day because of their brand name โmixed chicksโ. As a dark skinned girl with a white partner living in the UK, mixed chicks need to understand that over here weโre all black to white people, they do not differentiate between skin tones. You can have dark skinned stunners just as you can have facially challenged light skinned chicks. We come in all shapes, sizes, hair types and attractiveness but, silly me, I thought we were all in โTeam Blackโ.
1 up for โTeam Blackโ
seriouslyโฆYou could be teamlightskin looking like red foxx in the face with hair like โShaun the sheepโ and their products would still suck for youโฆ takes more than a name to make a good product.
Hello!
I didnโt realize so many people are insulted that 2 mixed women named their brand mixed chicks, but alas, logic and reason fail me everytime.
That tweet was beyond ignorant. Someone should be fired for it, Iโm sure it will ultimately cost these ladies thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
What a bad marketing tool โthe company should have never joined in. I love mixed chicks. Great products that
Work well on multiracial, multi-textured hair and cool name!!! All who wonโt try it.โฆ.. Well thatโs such a shameโฆ I suppose ignorance is bliss.โฆ.โฆ
Team Dark Skin vs. Team Light Skin????? Please, Iโm grown. This is some old School Daze, check the comb at the door, brown paper bag stuff. Fortunately, there are plenty of other products that I can purchase that donโt require me to check my heritage first. Mixed chicks must be a small starter company because mass marketers like Patene and Garnier (I use neither) knows to NEVER limit your market in such a manner. They will sell it to you and tell you, your beautiful by any means necessary because the first purpose is MONEY. I donโt use any Mixed… Read more »
I wouldnโt let Garnier (a subsidiary of Revlon) off the hook so easily eitherโฆ
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6279418.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jul/07/france.angeliquechrisafis
I wouldnโt let Loreal off the hook either..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jul/07/france.angeliquechrisafis
Plain, olโ fashioned stupidity. Anyone who supports this company is a fool. I canโt believe itโs 2011 and we are still going on about light skin vs. dark skin. Pathetic!
The name of the products donโt bother me, neither does them (mixed ppl) having a separate identity from blacks. I do have a problem with black folks buying into team light and dark skin. Reeks of self hatred but what else is new?
Iโve been to the Mixed Chicks website. Their front page days the products are for any race or combination.
Why are surprised ? IGNORANT BRAND NAME = IGNORANT TWIT. Mixed chicks ? What is that suppose to mean ? Do they all have the same hair texture ? Andโฆmixed with what ? Isnโt Caucasian and Idian considered mixed as well ?
Iโm on team #LighterToneDuringWinterMonthsAndDarkCaramelDuringTheSummerOnesAndSlightlyWhiteWhenDryAndAshy
Whoโs with me?
The worst thing about the Mixed Chicks #teamlightskin wahala (problem) is that they havenโt issued a sincere apology for the ignorance. The management pretends to be naive to the fallout the term would/did cause and doesnโt care enough about the consumer to address it on TWITTER or on their own homepage. This makes me suspect that an โownerโ/higher up is behind the tweets (and not someone who can be fired). It also tells me something about the character and maturity of the brand itself. The link posted (http://sakitaholley.com/2011/01/17/the-pr-fallout-from-mixedchicks-choosing-a-side) speaks on this as well.
LMAOโฆWahalaโฆmy sister how nau?
I dey dey now. ๐ How dey body?
@Bumper, as much as women here try to claim otherwise, my experience has been that whites in the U.S. are the same way. I get confused with other black people who are much lighter or much darker than me far too much for me to believe that white people favor light skin. They might have done it back when it meant that the slave in question was their child, but now it means nothing. Who wants to pretend that black modeling agents would have EVER picked a model like Alek Wek? I think that no one hates dark black skin… Read more »
โI think that no one hates dark black skin more than black people.โ
THIS.
Preeaccch!
This madness.
And they should be damn ashamed.
stay out of the twitter/social media madness. Its no good for anyone and it doesnt matter if they reached out to all parties involved, that part has been left out.
IN all its TASTELESS. To hell with all this dS/Ls business.
I love this comment. Couldnโt agree more.
If you think non-blacks donโt see color differences between black people, you are sadly mistaken. Stop giving others the benefit of the doubt. There have been COUNTLESS studies done that demonstrate non-black people feel more โcomfortableโ the lighter their skin is and are perceived differently, often positively, compared to blacks with darker hues.
@Jade, Iโm not mistaken. There was never a light-skinned colored and a dark skinned colored bathroom. Just a colored bathroom. Thatโs just history. Ignore if if you want. Thurgood Marshall had to use the colored bathroom back in the day too. Lena Horne had to walk in the back door. The ONLY black women in history to lead a fortune 500 company is a dark skinned woman with a short natural. Do I think sheโd have been picked for advancement in the ranks at BET or Johnson Publications? No. I think sheโd have been pulled aside by other black people and… Read more »
From reading a little bit of history the whole strife started with the โfirst slavesโ who mingled with white people (place your favorite โmixed chickโ here) and the unkept โfield slavesโ that came soon after (they didnโt come unkept, laws changed and their slavery was more brutal). It was also helped along by the slave masters because they kept their relatives (mixed/house slaves) in house and they got the finer scraps. In turn the odds where the more white you are the better your where treated. And unfortunately the better they thought they were. Itโs a long interesting story, but… Read more »
By the way I totally agree with you @AnonCA but I also think that Black people are more direct in their approach with other Black people.
Actually, it does. I did a research paper on colorism a few years ago and light-skinned blacks are more likely to be hired, elected to political office, etc. There is also a correlation between education and skin color, with an additional 1/2 year of education for every shade lighter you are. (So on the researcherโs 5โshade scale people in the lightest category were likely to have over 2 more years of education than people in the darkest category.) The research is out there if you care to look. #teamsocialscience
Iโm convinced that the world will come to an end.
Pure foolishness.
I am surprised with the reaction to the name of the company cause I have read posts where the author questioned their heritage and comments are swift to state that by virtue of being an โAfrican Americanโ you are mixed. So wouldnโt the name โMixed Chicksโ then apply to all โAfrican Americansโ?
Light skinned/dark skinnedโฆhuh? In the rest of the world you are simply (as somebody stated above) โteam blackโ. With all these โfalloutsโ over self-imposed racism it really seems as though โthe worlds most progressive black peopleโ arenโt that progressive after all!
I wonder why they bother with their overseas shipping or their UK website then, because Iโm British, not African American, nor am I mixed.
Iโve never had any plans to buy their products and thatโs not going to change now.
The name has always seemed โoffโ to me โ Mixed Chicks, like an anachronistic throwback to paper bag tests and blue vein balls. Anyway, in looking at the โMixed Chicksโ themselves, they would otherwise be viewed, perceived and treated as black women in just about any corner of America. What a stupid move on their part in further offending the audience most likely to be captive to their products!
-Genetically Mixed (arenโt most of us as African-Americans?), 100 percent BLACK
I disagree with that notion and personally always have when it comes to individuals of mixed heritage. I think itโs more important to abolish the ideal of the one drop rule than for mixed men and women to consider themselves black although itโs quite apparent they are not. I also donโt believe that ALL black people are mixed. Iโm not ignorant to history but not ALL of Africa was brought to America, and there were the issue of the children born to the slaves, not the slave owners so while we are commonly known to be of mixed heritage, itโs not… Read more »
*claps*.โฆ.โฆ.โฆ. I totally agree with everything you said. People seem to be attacking both the company name and the identity of mixed-race people as well. Being black and being mixed are two different things. well said ๐
BEAUTIFULLY STATED! Especially, the part about the one-drop rule. Our expectation of hyper-inclusivity of all individuals who have drops of black blood is just as much a vestige of slavery as the โlight skin vs. dark skinโ debate. Mixed race people should not automatically be considered black becauseโฆwellโฆTHEY ARENโT! I really donโt understand why people get so upset about this. Why do those of us who arenโt mixed-race feel a need to have an attachment to those who are? Many mixed race people want to differentiate themselves as a separate race of people, and rightfully so. Once again, your comment… Read more »
@Donna, AMEN my sista (and to Kiya and MBB)! instead of attacking people for identifying with both races some ppl should be exploring why they themselves are so offended when a woman who is 1/2 black and 1/2 white/asian or whatever, identifies herself as โmixed.โ although the tweet was an asinine move, if it was targeted to dark skinned women it wouldnโt even be an issue. this post would be riddled with praises and ppl running out to buy their products. i think the issue is a lot deeper than a tweet or a brand name. some of us need… Read more »
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! Umโฆ I really donโt think a #teamdarkskin tweet would have been any betterโฆ and I donโt think it would have been perceived as such. And I think itโs ignorant of you to assume that readers of this blog are so insecure and thirsty for praise that they would run out and buy products because two mixed women acknowledged them o_O As far as self identification โ yes, mixed people are free to identify themselves as they wish. I am a black woman, but I know several bi-racial women, including my own mother-in-law. Iโve watched her live a painful… Read more »
okay so hypothetically speaking (since the dark skin tweet didnโt occur) the same women that wouldnโt run out to buy their products because 2 light skinned women acknowledged them, hypothetically wouldnโt have ill feelings toward said light skinned women for not acknowleding them. Iโm just playing devils advocate here, my problem is there is no balance. if what you said reigns true, so many women that donโt fit the supposed target demographic based on the brand name, would not be offended by it (brand, not Tweet). iโm not mixed. nor am i light skinned. i think the tweet was stupid and… Read more »
@ohplease, you are sharing your personal experiences but donโt you think you are doing a great deal of generalizing here? I donโt know where you are from, but I donโt know anyone who is mixed that is throwing their state of mixhood in other peopleโs faces. Please, not all mixed people are that ignorant, and it bothers me that so many people in these sites seem to think so.
@Nikita โฆ All I can do is speak on my experience. I currently live in Chicago, which is one of the most segregated cities in the U.S. Negotiating identity in this city is tough for people who are black, let alone bi-racial. There are only 3 or 4 significantly diverse neighborhoods in Chicago (and Chicago has 77 neighborhoods), so if your aim is to thoughtfully digest your identity, and not default to a black neighborhood, you have to be very intentional. As I mentioned, I know several bi-racial women, and have dated quite a few bi-racial men. I have noticed… Read more »
Iโm not shocked when concerning the issue of colorism that plagues the black community. The brown paper bag has for so long divided us as a people across color lines and has so called defined the standard of what black beauty meant as well as oneโs self worth which I feel to be total bull! Iโm sadden by my fellow professional brothers and sisters, and I use the term profesional loosely that as a business they would be apart of this foolishness and be so careless as to use their platform as a means to contribute to divisiness. I obviously… Read more »
ANDโฆ Iโm a New Englander, Pats fan, darkskin with Natural 4bโc hairโฆ soโฆ from their perspectiveโฆ I guess thatโs the big FโU 3 timesโฆ
rule #1 in business โ assume nothing.
โThis is one of the dumbest marketing ploys Iโve ever encountered. Mixed Chicks should have kept their nose of out this silliness, because that is exactly what this โbeefโ is โ pure silliness.โ
Very well said Leo the Yardie Chick. I couldnโt agree with you more!
Shame on the moron at Mixed Chicks that even responded to this nonsense! Iโm sure she (or he?) could have found a better and more tactful way to plug their products! Iโll be using Miss Jessieโs!
I donโt really feel anything about this situation. There are plenty of people that have parents that both would be considered black but are from totally different continents. Or they could be from different regions of the U.S., which also makes a difference. But they donโt call themselves mixed. Just black. And thatโs ok. And if you feel the need to label yourself as mixed because one of your parents is peach and the other is mahogany, thatโs ok. Whatever tickles your pickle. If you take some kind of special pride in your skin tone and that gives you the… Read more »
Yes Lord!!! All of that a million times over!
I feel you, sistah pinkgirlfluff. At my age, I thought Iโd seen it all. This is truly a โWTFโ moment. I am truly offended that it is 2011, and this stink is STILL on the bottoms of our shoes.
Mixed Chicks should continue what theyโre doing if their goal is to justโฆ fadeโฆ awayโฆ (no pun intended)
Thanks for the info, Erin.
Peace,
Etomi
What do you expect from a company named โMixedChicksโ and I have never seen any ads where the model isnโt light-skinned. I would never purchase their product anyway, since Iโm not a mixed chick, Iโm a beautiful brown-skinned woman. Iโm a bit puzzled as to why other non-biracial women would purchase a product that clearly isnโt marketed to them, are they trying to be associated with the so-called โexoticโ other?
Iโve never used Mixed Chicks but Iโve purchased products that werenโt marketed for โwomen of colorโ because theyโve worked for my hair. I consider this in the same category. I donโt think Iโm selling out if I use Pantene or Tressemme if my hair likes itโฆSome people are just a tad bit sensitive about things like this. Many mixed people ARE brown and have hair just like yours. Is this product not targeting them as well? I think this whole thing is silly. Someone at the company made a stupid mistakeโฆand that person probably got fired. The whole โlight vs dark… Read more »
Well, when you think about mainstream brands like Tresemme or Pantene are not necessarily marketed towards non-white women, but they donโt name their product lines โWhite Chicksโ. So Iโm in a similar boat to Shirley, I mean why is it necessary to bring race into the name of the product line? That seems silly to me, not to mention the fact that all people who are mixed donโt necessarily have the same hair. So I never really understood why they would go there with the name of their products. But on the other hand, I wouldnโt knock anyone who isnโt… Read more »
Donโt Take Anything Personally Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you wonโt be the victim of needless suffering. We take things personally when we agree with what others have said. If we didnโt agree, the things that others say would not affect us emotionally. If we did not care about what others think about us, their words or behavior could not affect us. Even if someone yells at you, gossips about you, harms you or yours,… Read more »
beautiful brown skin? erm honey them words do not goโฆyour burnt black skin stop kidding yourself you wog
????????????????
[โฆ] Originally Posted by Smartkitty OP โ Qhemetโs Biologics do good products for type 4 hair and donโt by name or nature try to exclude any hair type. The curly haired products meet a particular niche and it does seem that there are more lines geared towards curls and more variety of products for curly hair. I find that with type 4 hair, many companies lump us all in the same bracket as though our hair will like the same products and ingredients. Often the prods for type 4 are these heavy butters marketed as moisturisers that donโt work for… Read more »
that skin we are fighting over is what holds us together (physically). why does the โcolorโ of it have to pull us apart.
itโs very disappointing to hear this. The depth of beauty the skin has is far beyond color. as people, our perceptions have been heavily distorted and thatโs sad
@Le Sighโฆ First off, I would bet money that a majority of โMixed Chicksโ customer base is black womenโฆ so they might want to re-think that title. Second off, yes, it is stupid to create a haircare line called โMixed Chicksโโฆ What about โmixed chicksโ who have kinky hair? What about โregular chicksโ who have curly hair? I think it is surface level, and plain old stupid, to bring something as weighty as being bi-racial into the realm of haircare. And THAT is why so many people give โMixed Chickโ the side-eye. Because, really, what does their haircare have to do with… Read more »
@ oh please this debate is going in circles. lol. first, are you assuming black and mixed are mutually exclusive? just because most of their base is black does not mean those women do not consider themselves mixed. secondly, i didnt realize their brand stated either misconception. that mixed chicks didnโt have kinky hair or that regular chicks didnโt have curls. again, they are mixed and felt like other ppl could identify with the struggles they had finding products for hair with multiple textures, which they attributed to being mixed. there is a popular youtuber Taren(something) that i remember saying when… Read more »
(Off topic) Iโm feeling you on that Miss Jessie โsilkenerโ. If their product is so great, why would you want the silkener? Sorry, I donโt see many people dicussing that point, so I had to jump on it.
MixedChicks is BUYING ad space on CurlyNikkiโs site. She is not *personally* endorsing them. Itโs like seeing a Tide commercial on during while a sitcom is on NBC. Neither NBC or the sitcom is *endorsing* the product; theyโre just selling the space to FUND the show. CN is SELLING the ad space to FUND her site.
@ogo well, nbc decides whether it will allow certain commercials to run, and when. they have standards. they will not let anything or anybody run commercials even when the money is there. this goes for superbowl commercials too. there are banned commercials. if there is a company known for anti-semitism or some sort of extremism, do you think a superbowl ad or a commercial shown during primetime will run? this is especially the case if they believe it will alienate the core audience of the show the ad is being tagged to. so, even if it is not about endorsing a… Read more »
If mixed women consider themselves blackโฆ then why the title?? Whatโs the point. Iโm saying there is no real point to their title. There are plenty ways they could have gotten the point across that their product is for curly hair. They choose to make curly hair synonymous with โmixed hairโ. Thatโs just stupid. To your second pointโฆ Again, this brand seems to be pushing the idea that โmixed hairโ is curly hair. And that is just stupid. Also, they claim to be open to โall kinds of mixesโ (oh brother!) so youโre telling me that their products would work… Read more »
this topic is wearing me out. I chose not to assume the worst of this brand based on its name, but again that was my choice based in part on some reasons i have already stated. if the tweet means they donโt want the business of people who arenโt light skinned and curly haired, well then so be it. iโve never cried over a dollar saved. this wonโt be the first time a brand image was tainted in epic proportion due to twitter, i doubt it will be the last. whether or not someone is obsessed with their โexoticโ features does… Read more »
@Le Sighโฆ There is a difference between something โnot concerning youโ, and putting yourself on the line to defend it. Obviously the chicks over at โMixed Chicksโ have color issues. The tweet has just made plain what many people in this thread already felt and suspected. And I would really recommend people read โBlack, White and Jewishโ by Rebecca Walker. It is one of the only times that Iโve seen a bi-racial woman go beyond reveling in the physical/exotic to really examine what it is to be bi-racial in America. THAT I can defend and THAT I can respect. โMixed… Read more »
No shock at allโฆ I went to the afro hair and beauty show in London last May, and the joke was that Mixed Chicks was the only range available for women with natural hair (Another rant another day) and it clearly wasnโt for me with my strait combination of black-black parentage (this is a joke in itself as my Mom is light skinned with green eyes yet has hair as coarse or coarser then mineโฆ when not permed as it is now!) The most perplexing thing about Mixed chicks is that it takes no account for the fact that โmixed chicksโ… Read more »
You are right. It is about the texture and not about the race or ethnicity.
suffice it to say, it can be good when people show you their ass.
have they issued an apology?
a white company that did something similar would issue an apology for sure.
donโt let these dummies get away with this foolishness. i would hope they would no longer be invited to certain events and their products boycotted.
Lol @ merry, great minds think alike! I think I replied to one of your comments before, and I agree with this one as well. I never used MixedChicks because Iโm not mixed. When you flip the bottles over they have the same ingredients as all these other products, so going out their way to market to bi-racial girls clearly says that they donโt want/need money from โregular black girlsโ like me. (I hate that phrase, but you know what I mean). The name of the product was a dumb business move to begin withโฆtaking sides in the light skinned dark… Read more »
[โฆ] Chicks Twitter Fail http://bglhonline.com/2011/01/mixed-โฆgeโ1/#comments Over dramatization? Self hatred? Slow news day? DISCUSS. โฆWell, you know. If you want to. [โฆ]
So so sad on all levels that this is basically about skin color. There are black women in Africa (all colors by the way) that has ALL types of curls and hair textures and hair colors. This is 2011 and these companies, who are mostly supported by black women, have the nerve to TARGET their products for light skinned women, we are all in the same family at the end of the day, but TV, music videos, magazines, black people who are bleaching their skin, black people who are bleaching their childrenโs skin, basically everywhere is pushing and encouraging that… Read more »
I NEVER USE THEIR PRODUCTS BECAUSE WHEN I FIRST HEARD OF IT, I THOUGHT TO MYSELF THAT MIX CHICKS IS SUCH AN IGNORANT BRAND NAME. WHAT THE HELL IS MIXED CHICKS? SO DO YOU HAVE TO BE MIXED TO USE IT? I THINK SOME BLACK PEOPLE USED IT BECAUSE EVERY BLACK PERSON ALWAYS TALKS ABOUT BEING MIXED WITH SOMETHING, BUT MAYBE ITS ABOUT TIME THAT WE JUST BE HAPPY WITH BEING BLACK. STOP CLAIMING OTHER THINGS AND JUST SAY THAT BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL AND THATS IT. MIXED CHICKS IS AN IGNORANT BRAND NAME IN ITSELF, SO I AM SUPRISED THAT… Read more »
co-signed.
PEOPLE ALWAYS SAY THAT LIGHT SKIN PEOPLE GET HATED ON, BUT I ALWAYS SEE THAT DARK SKIN PEOPLE GET HATED ON THE MOST. I PERSONALLY THINK DARK SKIN IS SOOOO GORGEOUS!
all bi-racial people arenโt light skinned and all light skinned people donโt have curly hair. Mixed Chicks gets the retard trophy because there is no such thing as mixed hair. There are people who are purely Black with wavy hair what the hell?
LMAO @ retard trophy!!!
+1 !!
ugh, i hate their products and now i hate what they stand for.
[โฆ] reading a essay Mixed Chicks supports group light skin on Twitter, practice fallout we was repelled by a inlet of some of a comments that were destined during a code name and a [โฆ]
[โฆ] reading a essay Mixed Chicks supports group light skin on Twitter, practice fallout we was repelled by a inlet of some of a comments that were destined during a code name and a [โฆ]
[โฆ] + 1 What fiasco? In late and want to know ๐ Sent from my iPhone using CurlTalk THIS: http://bglhonline.com/2011/01/mixed-โฆences-fallout/ __________________ Alright, so I have to admit Iโm digging this CG methodโฆoh no. Iโm ONE OF [โฆ]
I keep hearing about lots of black people having naturally curly/wavy hair but Iโve rarely seen it. But maybe itโs because Iโm in Britain and African Americans are so mixed, right? Anyway, I couldnโt give a damn about this. When I was a little younger, and was ignorant of ingredients, I was over-joyed to hear about Mixed Chicks, seeing as the only type of hair products I knew of were โwhiteโ products and โblack productsโ. I call them that because of the target market, the type/races of people who bought them and the difference of the products used between my… Read more »
Im black and the black products are too heavy for my hair too. They break it off. I use white shampoo. Blacks themselves have different hair, youre not alone. Im black and American indian great great grandmother with portuguese and british great grandfather.
did they hit up darkskin too??? and are you sure it was from the company???? and now that they are big it could be someone that is on the marketing team like a white person or someone that donโt know any better.โฆ
Black people need to wake up! There are so many angles being used to further divide us and we fall for it like dupes. We look at each other with disdain and suspicion. Look at TV commercials, movies and theatrical performances where blacks are cast. What do you see besides the usual stereotypical tripe? Dark skinned man, light skinned woman. What is that telling us? โMixed Chicks?โ more nonsense black people buy into. Nothing wrong with identifying with black. Tiger Woods went so far as suggesting maybe he should be categorised as โCablasian.โ Why not โBlacasian?โ Nonsense, all of it! There… Read more »
WTF would any self respecting black woman support this company?
โ#teamlightskin sure hope all will try @Mixedchicks to care 4 those curls.โ
Obviously they must not want dark skinned women and their non curls having behindsโ $$$
This reminds me of the treatment & speculation I went through growing up in a majority white environment. In the minds of those around us, there was no way that my sisters & I had the same mother. My oldest sister is darkskin & we only get lighter down the line. This was ridiculously annoying. As Blacks we can have a spectrum of shares in one single family. To make matters worse the other blacks believed that my oldest sister had a weave because he hair was long. Not the case at all. Her hair has been down her back… Read more »
After the ready the tweet, it is the assumption that you have to be biracial to have curly hair. Also, it is the assumption that if you are dark skinned or brown skin, or whatever that your hair is coarse, thick and โnappyโ and needs to straighten to be managable. Whereas those of lighter hue are presumed to have fine and curly hair. That is not the case! I know of some light skinned sistahs who have some THICK and coarse hair. It saddens me that people in the hair industry and in general will not educate themselves to see… Read more »
So Iโm a year late on this article but I still have to comment. Iโm not a fan of the companyโs nameโฆ I find it to be excluding. I donโt have a problem with the fact that the founder embrace their โmixedโ heritage as they should, but the name can imply thier products are only for mixed chicks and that is not the case. Now with the #teamlightskin commentโฆTo me,a brown skin beauty, I take no offense. They are lightskin women. I find that representing #teamlightskin is no diffent than me representing #teamaquarius. Itโs a part of who that person is.… Read more »
comment5, glucophage medicine, 011,
the women on this site have nappy dry brillo pad hair what exactly are you guys celebrating? the joy of nappyism? looooooool
wog wars u bitches need 2 get back on the fields
you bored huh? anyway.โฆ
There products SUCK i just bought the leave in and that stuff is no good!
Damn tell us how u really feel, and so what if our hair is so called โnappyโ as long as it healthy who cares!
I agree the stereotypical marketing of mixed chicks is CRAZy. I am a black dark skinned girl with curly brown hair naturally from the Carribean. I find mixed light skinned American chicks hate me because im pretty and im not supposed to have so called good hair. Anyhow Indians from India and American Indians make up half of the population where im from. So alot of normal looking dark black people have near straight and curly hair. Americans blacks are different because they associate only light skin with good hair. Not true, we have Indians in the Carribean as black… Read more »
For the writer of this article dont.be jealous of curly.hair, it does not take as much heat and it is less flexible to style like kinky hair. My sister has kinky hair and mine is curly and thin. its not as good as you think.
I did not know about the Mixed Chicks Tweet-oh I am so disappointed :-(!
And another thing-Iโve seen many discussions among Black women about the different textures of hair-ON ONE HEAD!!!!!! I remember seeing the Mixed Chicks videos about the special needs of bi-racial women. I am BLACK-my hair has many textures in it. My mother was a beautful brown-skinned woman with long, curly hair. Itโs about texture-not skin color-how utterly ignorant and moronic! They arenโt very good business women if they are alienating a whole group of people. And donโt they have tee-shirts? Who would wear a tee-shirt that says โMixed Chickโ on it!!!! And I hate the term โgood hairโ with a… Read more »
OkโI came on the scene late with this story, but as my prior post indicates, I was really disappointed in the Mixed Chicks folks. Sooooooo, yesterday, I sent them an eโmail, expressing my disappointment, was it really true, yadda, yadda. I got a response back from โWendiโ that said neither she nor Kim actually tweeted that message, that it was someone who worked for them that they trusted to express their views and did not do so, and that the person no longer worked for their company. She also apologized if it hurt anyone and thanked me for taking the… Read more »
eh, the product name did turn me off. but that wasnโt why i didnโt use the product. i didnโt use it because i balked at that price, checked the ingredients list and saw it had the same stuff in it as a lotta lower priced items. i try to purchase smart, so if this product canโt guarantee itโll eliminate my breakage and split ends, then itโs just not worth it for me at the listed price. iโll take my $2 mane n tail over MC any day!
. There is actually no such thing as a so-called โLight-Skinned Blackโ person โฆ but rather โฆ such individuals and groups are actually people who are of a โMulti-Generational Multiracially-Mixedโ (MGM-Mixed) Lineage that some may have been pressured or encouraged to ignore or downplay. . http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4160 . People of Mixed-Race lineage should NOT feel pressured to โidentifyโ according to any standards other than oneโs own. . http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4157 . The legal โapplication of the racist-โOne-Drop Ruleโ (ODR) was banned in the U.S. way back in 1967. . http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4162 . http://www.facebook.com/groups/253286018082418/permalink/253341891410164 . http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4187 . http://www.facebook.com/groups/253286018082418/permalink/253341281410225 . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . Listed below are related Links of… Read more »
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