by
Black Girl With Long Hair
Over the past few weeks on Twitter, there has been a battle raging between #teamlightskin and #teamdarkskin, sparked in part by a “Light Skinned Versus Dark Skinned” 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 aren’t 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 ‘tweeter’ behind Mixed Chicks‘ account went on to say that they sent messages to several different “teams”, but a blogger tracking the story didn’t 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.
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There is actually no such thing as a so-called “Light-Skinned
Black” person … but rather … such individuals and groups
are actually people who are of a ‘Multi-Generational
Multiracially-Mixed’ (MGM-Mixed) Lineage that some may
have been pressured or encouraged to ignore or downplay.
.
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4160
.
People of Mixed-Race lineage should NOT feel pressured to
‘identify’ according to any standards other than one’s own.
.
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4157
.
The legal -application of the racist-‘One-Drop Rule’
(ODR) was banned in the U.S. way back in 1967.
.
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4162
.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/253286018082418/permalink/253341891410164
.
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4187
.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/253286018082418/permalink/253341281410225
.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.
Listed below are related Links of ‘the facts’ of the histories
of various Mixed-Race populations found within the U.S.:
.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.
There is no proof that a ‘color-based slave hierarchy’
(or that ‘color-based social-networks’) ever existed
as common entities — within the continental U.S.
.
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4154
.
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4153
.
It was the ‘Rule of Matriliny (ROM) — [a.k.a. ‘The Rule of Partus’
(ROP)] — and NOT the racist-‘One-Drop Rule’ (ODR) — that was
used to ‘create more enslaved people’ on the continental U.S.
.
This is because the chattel-slavery system that was
once found on the antebellum-era, continental U.S.
was NOT “color-based” (i.e. “racial”) — but rather
— it was actually “mother-based” (i.e. ‘matrilineal’).
.
.
There were many ways (and not solely the sexual assault
and sexual exploitation of the women-of-color) in which
‘white’ lineage entered the familial bloodlines of
enslaved-people found on the continental U.S.
.
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4238
.
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4239
.
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4240
.
An ‘Ethnic’ category is NOT the
same thing as a “Race” category:
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/4236
.
.
Other Topics:
.
.
.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/%C2%ADallpeople-gifts/the-facts-on-m%C2%ADixed-race/321878451159708
.
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eh, the product name did turn me off. but that wasn’t why i didn’t use the product. i didn’t 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 can’t guarantee it’ll eliminate my breakage and split ends, then it’s just not worth it for me at the listed price. i’ll take my $2 mane n tail over MC any day!
Ok-I 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 e-mail, expressing my disappointment, was it really true, yadda, yadda. I got a response back from “Wendi” 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 the time to write in and hear their side. (we went back and forth in e-mails several times). Now, I know some people may not believe she was being sincere, and I know I missed the original story, but I’m going to take her at her word-there is always more than one side to a story, and I have heard of business people hiring folks to do their social networking-anything is possible. I thought it was cool that she responded as soon as she did. Just me, but I am inclined to believe her. I just wanted to share this with everyone. Take from it what you will :-).
And another thing-I’ve 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. It’s about texture-not skin color-how utterly ignorant and moronic! They aren’t very good business women if they are alienating a whole group of people. And don’t they have tee-shirts? Who would wear a tee-shirt that says “Mixed Chick” on it!!!! And I hate the term “good hair” with a passion!!!!
I did not know about the Mixed Chicks Tweet-oh I am so disappointed :-(!
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 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 as midnight.
wog wars u bitches need 2 get back on the fields
you bored huh? anyway….
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 “nappy” as long as it healthy who cares!
the women on this site have nappy dry brillo pad hair what exactly are you guys celebrating? the joy of nappyism? looooooool
comment5, glucophage medicine, 011,
So I’m a year late on this article but I still have to comment. I’m not a fan of the company’s name… I find it to be excluding. I don’t have a problem with the fact that the founder embrace their “mixed” 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 comment…To 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. It’s a part of who that person is. No one shot India Irie for writing the song brown skin. Do you honestly feel she was downing or lighter skin sisters.
And for those of you who say that mixed people should embrace identifying themselves as black, I totally agree, but they should also equally identify whatever other race applies to them as well. Check every race on the paper of you have to because in the end we are all HUMAN.
Signed a BrownSkin, African American Woman
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 “nappy” 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 that each one of us has our own unique hair type and that we ALL have natural curls. I am a brown skin sistah with thick, course and natural curly hair. I found this out when I sweated my hair in 2009 during the Summer. Who knew! I have proudly embraced it.
So “Mixed-chicks” come out of California and get in touch with what is going on in the real world.
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 her entire life & if myself & the middle sister didn’t have ADD to try every hair style & color under the sun, ours would be long. It was actualy my oldest sister who supported me going back to natural hair. I will never support a company that would divide my family based off share of race. GTFOH!
WTF would any self respecting black woman support this company?
“#teamlightskin sure hope all will try @Mixedchicks to care 4 those curls.”
Obviously they must not want dark skinned women and their non curls having behinds’ $$$
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? “Mixed Chicks?” 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 “Cablasian.” Why not “Blacasian?” Nonsense, all of it!
There is so much negativity hurled at us that it saddens me when I see so many of our (especially young) people succumbing to that self fulfilling principle of being inferior or needing “help”.
As blacks we need to talk to each other and our young people, whether we know them or not. But be gentle and kind. You’re likely to get a listening ear from someone who feels respected. We have to stop these divisive assaults and become closer.
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 don’t know any better….
I keep hearing about lots of black people having naturally curly/wavy hair but I’ve rarely seen it. But maybe it’s because I’m in Britain and African Americans are so mixed, right?
Anyway, I couldn’t 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 ‘white’ products and ‘black products’. 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 white/black family and friends. ‘White products’ weren’t moisturising enough for my hair, and ‘black’ products were too heavy. So, I was glad to hear of a product marketed towards ‘us mixed girls’. Maybe if you’re not mixed, you won’t identify with that feeling. So be it. It’s down to personal opinion, obviously. I just know that I wouldn’t be offended if I saw a product called ‘Black Chicks’. Just like I don’t get offended when people say ‘dark skin is soo beautiful’ or ‘black love is real love’, or ‘the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice’ even though when a mixed person is proud or says the same things as above in application to biracials, they’re berated for it. Such is life.
I don’t use Mixed Chicks, though. The ingredients aren’t good for your hair and they don’t do anything special for my hair, anyway.
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.
ugh, i hate their products and now i hate what they stand for.
all bi-racial people aren’t light skinned and all light skinned people don’t 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 !!
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!
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 ALL OF YOU PEOPLE USED IT IN THE FIRST PLACE!
co-signed.
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 children’s skin, basically everywhere is pushing and encouraging that …whatever you consider a “dark” black woman to be, that they are not accepted, and that thay must conform to these ridiculous standards. Just simply do not support whoever is pushing these ideas, and be true to yourself! Also, there are plenty of youtube videos that shows recipes for haircare, some recipes being organic and healthier your hair journies.
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.
don’t 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 I’m 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 don’t want/need money from “regular black girls” like me. (I hate that phrase, but you know what I mean). The name of the product was a dumb business move to begin with…taking sides in the light skinned dark skinned issue was worse.
No shock at all… 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 wasn’t 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 mine… when not permed as it is now!)
The most perplexing thing about Mixed chicks is that it takes no account for the fact that ‘mixed chicks’ themselves have varying textures they don’t seem to understand this and base their product on colour not texture. So the support of ‘teamlightskinned’ is no surprise, that is mixed chicks stance anyway, they just don’t say it outright.
The range is based on hair care for women of mixed heritage, not a bad thing in itself of course there seems to be a gap in the market of hair care for mixed peoples hair as well as afro hair in general, the only problem with this is that hair is not determined by the shade of out skin, it’s abit more complex than that…
…and so, yet again we see misinformed individuals causing offence due to their inaccurate view. It is slightly annoying what was posted but hey, they have represented light skinned women from the start the only dark skinned woman on their stand at the hair show had permed hair (I’m not knocking permed hair, stay with me please).
To clarify what I’m saying essentially mixed chicks is not marketed to dark skinned women, natural or not. The shout out to’teamlightskinned’ is nothing but a shout out to their target demographic, taking the opportunity to reach out to them about a product aimed at them… although light does not equal mixed.
I understand why some people are offended, considering dark skinned women buy their products also they may/will loose customers from the darker range of black but they are the ones that loose out… On this I think they are slightly foolish to not consider this when supporting one side and not the other.
Mixed chick was and is for lighted skinned, always has been.
You are right. It is about the texture and not about the race or ethnicity.
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 don’t want the business of people who aren’t light skinned and curly haired, well then so be it. i’ve never cried over a dollar saved. this won’t 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 “exotic” features does not concern me. i just don’t like the implying tone that because they are mixed they shouldn’t celebrate their features at the chance of offending someone who isn’t. i don’t believe that my not being mixed makes me facially inferior to someone who is. i can’t change someone else’s perception of who they are, just as i don’t give other ppl the power to change mine.
@Le Sigh… There is a difference between something “not concerning you”, and putting yourself on the line to defend it. Obviously the chicks over at “Mixed Chicks” 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 “Black, White and Jewish” by Rebecca Walker. It is one of the only times that I’ve 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. “Mixed Chicks” I cannot.
If mixed women consider themselves black… then why the title?? What’s the point. I’m 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 “mixed hair”. That’s just stupid.
To your second point… Again, this brand seems to be pushing the idea that “mixed hair” is curly hair. And that is just stupid. Also, they claim to be open to “all kinds of mixes” (oh brother!) so you’re telling me that their products would work for someone who is half white, half asian? They themselves seem to be confused. They should have just kept it real and called their brand, “Haircare for light skinned girls who have curly hair and are mixed with black and white, black and asian or black and hispanic.”
To your third point, that Taren searched for “bi-racial hair” is her own misconception. As has been mentioned time and time and TIME again on this blog, black people don’t do enough to understand the diversity of our genome! Go to ANY black neighborhood and I’ll guarantee that in the span of an hour you’ll find a dozen “regular” black chicks with curly hair. It is US who have solidified this WRONG notion that only mixed girls have curly hair… and all mixed girls must have curly hair. Apparently the women over at “Mixed Chicks” have drunk the Kool Aid, hence their kooky, confused brand.
Curly Nikki has Mixed Chicks banners all over her site because she’s an affiliate of NaturallyCurly.com, and they carry her ads. Before becoming an NC affiliate she was a subscriber of the Glam Network, and carried those ads (I notice these things because I work in advertisement)
And finally re: Miss Jessie’s; the products they push are their own perogative. I was pointing to the fact that they didn’t slap a “For Blasian Hair” or “For Lightly Colored Girl” label on their brand and thus confuse, ostracize and limit their options. There are PLENTY of natural hair brands that get the point across that their products are for women with multiple/curly textures: CURLS, Kinky Curly and Hair Rules are just a few.
The name of their brand was suspect to begin with, and has become even more suspect with this incident. Oh, and if you check the Twitter timeline, right before their light skinned tweet they were praising the beauty of “team Blasian” on Twitter. (*HUGE exaggerated eye roll*)
Just what we need, right? Another bi-racial women who is stereotypically obsessed with the exoticness of her features.
@ 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 didn’t have kinky hair or that regular chicks didn’t 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 she first looked for hair videos on YT she actually searched “bi-racial hair.” so i’m assuming this isn’t a new phenomenon for mixed ppl to think their hair is different from someone who is 100% one race. but again, i am not mixed so i can’t really get into that.
Curly Nikki has mixed chicks ads and banners all over her site so…
i’ve made it clear how i feel about the tweet, no point in reiterating.
@miss jessies, no instead they push the silkener onto any one who will be duped into relaxing their kinks into curls the minute they step into their salon. that brand is more irrelevant to me than mixed chicks, i can’t even go there.
(Off topic) I’m feeling you on that Miss Jessie “silkener”. If their product is so great, why would you want the silkener? Sorry, I don’t see many people dicussing that point, so I had to jump on it.
MixedChicks is BUYING ad space on CurlyNikki’s site. She is not *personally* endorsing them. It’s like seeing a Tide commercial on during while a sitcom is on NBC. Neither NBC or the sitcom is *endorsing* the product; they’re 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 product (a totally flimsy, cop-out argument imo), it may be about not antagonizing your audience/customer base by presenting something that may drive them away, at least until some sort of apology or mea culpa is given.
this is the internet. a favored site changes quickly because people are finnicky and can get what they want with the click of a button. look how fast myspace sank. curly nikki’s site ain’t special. hopefully enough people speak up and pressure her to refuse those ads.
@Le Sigh… First off, I would bet money that a majority of “Mixed Chicks” customer base is black women… so they might want to re-think that title.
Second off, yes, it is stupid to create a haircare line called “Mixed Chicks”… What about “mixed chicks” who have kinky hair? What about “regular chicks” 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 “Mixed Chick” the side-eye. Because, really, what does their haircare have to do with being mixed?
Just look around the natural blogosphere — Curly Nikki (not mixed) has curly hair, Afrobella (not mixed) has curly hair, Nikole Crowe of Moptop Maven (not mixed) has curly hair even Kim Luv of KimmayTube (not mixed) has a curl to her hair.
When incidents like the #teamlightskin thing happen, it strengthens people’s notion that the title of their brand has more to do with creating an air of exclusivity and less to do with defining a target group for their products.
And let’s not forget that the creators of Miss Jessie’s are both bi-racial (black & Asian) and proud of it… but don’t seem to use it as a scepter to determine how they relate to their customers.
that skin we are fighting over is what holds us together (physically). why does the ‘color’ of it have to pull us apart.
it’s 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 that’s sad
What do you expect from a company named “MixedChicks” and I have never seen any ads where the model isn’t light-skinned. I would never purchase their product anyway, since I’m not a mixed chick, I’m a beautiful brown-skinned woman. I’m a bit puzzled as to why other non-biracial women would purchase a product that clearly isn’t marketed to them, are they trying to be associated with the so-called “exotic” other?
I’ve never used Mixed Chicks but I’ve purchased products that weren’t marketed for “women of color” because they’ve worked for my hair. I consider this in the same category. I don’t think I’m selling out if I use Pantene or Tressemme if my hair likes it…Some 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 mistake…and that person probably got fired. The whole “light vs dark event” is ridiculous, and my stance is that I’m not going to fuel the fire by giving it importance. I know, as many people on this site know, that mixed or not, no one benefits from division. I’m not suggesting you buy this product-I could care less. But to say “I’m not buying this because I’m not ___(fill in race)_____” reveals a lot about how you view yourself in relation to other women of different ethnic backgrounds, and its not a flattering view.
Well, when you think about mainstream brands like Tresemme or Pantene are not necessarily marketed towards non-white women, but they don’t name their product lines “White Chicks”. So I’m 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 don’t 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 wouldn’t knock anyone who isn’t mixed for trying it, maybe it would work wonders for them. The whole explicit race thing is just a turn off for me, and now this debacle on twitter just seems even more divisive and ridiculous really. I’m not mad though, it’s kind of a joke to me and I think they let their true colors show (no pun intended).
Don’t 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 won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
We take things personally when we agree with what others have said. If we didn’t 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, it still is not about you! Their actions and words are based on what they believe in their personal dream.
Our personal “Book of Law” and belief system makes us feel safe. When people have beliefs that are different from our own, we get scared, defend ourselves, and impose our point of view on others. If someone gets angry with us it is because our belief system is challenging their belief system and they get scared. They need to defend their point of view. Why become angry, create conflict, and expend energy arguing when you are aware of this?
beautiful brown skin? erm honey them words do not go…your burnt black skin stop kidding yourself you wog
????????????????
I don’t 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 don’t call themselves mixed. Just black. And that’s ok. And if you feel the need to label yourself as mixed because one of your parents is peach and the other is mahogany, that’s ok. Whatever tickles your pickle. If you take some kind of special pride in your skin tone and that gives you the tingles, that’s just fine. Especially if you have nothing else to offer the world but that. Heck, everybody has to have something, right?
Personally, I’m #teamreasonableprice, #teamdoyouboo, and #teamyouneedjesusyawehjehovahallahorsomething.
Yes Lord!!! All of that a million times over!
I feel you, sistah pinkgirlfluff. At my age, I thought I’d seen it all. This is truly a “WTF” 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 they’re doing if their goal is to just… fade… away… (no pun intended)
Thanks for the info, Erin.
Peace,
Etomi
Shame on the moron at Mixed Chicks that even responded to this nonsense! I’m sure she (or he?) could have found a better and more tactful way to plug their products! I’ll be using Miss Jessie’s!
“This is one of the dumbest marketing ploys I’ve ever encountered. Mixed Chicks should have kept their nose of out this silliness, because that is exactly what this ‘beef’ is – pure silliness.”
Very well said Leo the Yardie Chick. I couldn’t agree with you more!
AND… I’m a New Englander, Pats fan, darkskin with Natural 4b-c hair… so… from their perspective… I guess that’s the big F-U 3 times…
rule #1 in business – assume nothing.
I’m 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 one’s self worth which I feel to be total bull! I’m 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 misunderstood what the company and their products represent because if this is their stance they do not represent me and since they do not represent me, I do not invest in them. Does this company represent you? I ask that Mix Chicks speak to their consumers and explain themselves whether they feel this action was justified or not.
As a farely new natural I have been so excited with the numerous grassroot minority owned companies that are flousishing and taken back our haircare industry and Mix Chicks has disturbed me. So enough with the sermon, here is an opportunity as consumers for us to be heard and not tolerate ignorance. Contact Mix Chicks and express your thoughts and invest your buying power with companies that acknowledge and value you.
The name has always seemed “off” to me – Mixed Chicks, like an anachronistic throwback to paper bag tests and blue vein balls. Anyway, in looking at the “Mixed Chicks” 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 (aren’t 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 it’s more important to abolish the ideal of the one drop rule than for mixed men and women to consider themselves black although it’s quite apparent they are not.
I also don’t believe that ALL black people are mixed. I’m 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, it’s not a given for every individual who has black skin. In reality we are all one race the human one. BUT we also come from varying ethnic backgrounds that make up who we are, if not it wouldn’t be ok to be having this discussion on a site titled black girl with long hair. So why do we find it of such importance to keep saying how mixed we are when we barely are and then thing about it turn around and have an issue with it when those that are directly and obviously mixed stress the fact that they are.
So saying all of that to say there is nothing wrong with mixed chicks being branded as it is, they are mixed seeking to create a product for individuals who experience hair issue as they have, the same way we may appreciate one product over another because it’s specifically for us. BUT the issue at hand is the twitter activity and how it was handled, people should stick to that and perhaps take the personal jabs against their business and name choice to their inbox.
*claps*…………. 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 🙂
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 “light skin vs. dark skin” debate. Mixed race people should not automatically be considered black because…well…THEY AREN’T! I really don’t understand why people get so upset about this. Why do those of us who aren’t 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 is right on point donna.
@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 “mixed.”
although the tweet was an asinine move, if it was targeted to dark skinned women it wouldn’t 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 to stop relying on affirmations in the media for self worth. every time i think i see forward movement in the natural hair community, a post and the commentary like what i’ve seen on here remind me that it only exists in my mind.
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! Um… I really don’t think a #teamdarkskin tweet would have been any better… and I don’t think it would have been perceived as such. And I think it’s 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 — 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. I’ve watched her live a painful life, in part because of her denial that she is anything but black. I have encouraged her many times to examine and embrace her Italian side.
I think the problem comes with the WAY IN WHICH bi-racial choose to distinguish themselves. I really don’t meet to many bi-racial people who are thoughtfully digesting their dual cultures. Nope. Most are happy to stay on the side of black culture and gloat about the fact that they have light skin and curly hair.
And that’s the thing that bothers me. Bi-racial people say that they want black people to recognize their dual culture… but they’re only saying it to us. I don’t see them making the same demands of their second culture — whether it is white, hispanic or asian.
How many times have you heard a bi-racial person fly into a rage because a white person thought they were “just white”? Or an Asian person thought they were “just Asian”? But let a black person say they’re “just black”, and all hell breaks loose.
Also, it frustrates me when bi-racial people demand that they want to be viewed as separate from black people — while relying on us for sexual companionship and a customer base.
One of my friends is bi-racial and a jewelry designer. She is engaged to a white guy and hangs out primarily with white people. BUT she has admitted to me that she gets most of her sales from black women. I once accompanied her to a black women’s expo, where the audience was mainly black women from the South Side of Chicago, and I was disgusted by how rude she was to her customers. She was SO condescending. And I kept thinking to myself, “But I thought this was your customer base!!”
So, Le Sigh, yes I agree that bi-racial people have the right to self-define. But if that only goes as far as surface-level things like light skin and curly hair, (which many “regular black” people like myself have ANYWAY) then I REALLY don’t want to hear it!!
okay so hypothetically speaking (since the dark skin tweet didn’t occur) the same women that wouldn’t run out to buy their products because 2 light skinned women acknowledged them, hypothetically wouldn’t have ill feelings toward said light skinned women for not acknowleding them. I’m just playing devils advocate here, my problem is there is no balance. if what you said reigns true, so many women that don’t fit the supposed target demographic based on the brand name, would not be offended by it (brand, not Tweet).
i’m not mixed. nor am i light skinned. i think the tweet was stupid and divisive, but as a brand pre-twittergate, i did not think i was excluded from them as a customer because they are of mixed descendant and made a product that speaks to curls and kinks of many combinations.
mixed chicks is a haircare line. i don’t have any haircare products that do anything for me beyond a surface level, so i guess on me your point in lost :-/
the tweet was dumb, and if it is a sincere indication of who mixed chicks prefers as their customer base, that is truly unfortunate. as i have previously mentioned, my shock was in that so many ppl were against a brand created by two women that identify with namesake. nothing more nothing less.
@ohplease, you are sharing your personal experiences but don’t you think you are doing a great deal of generalizing here? I don’t know where you are from, but I don’t know anyone who is mixed that is throwing their state of mixhood in other people’s 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… 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 that the women seem to have a tougher time with it than the men. And no, they are not all “ignorant” or throwing their mixedness in people’s faces. A few of them have confessed to me that they struggle with feeling a sense of entitlement over “regular” black people, due to their skin color.
As far as generalizations, yes, I definitely stated generalizations based more on what I’ve seen written online, not necessarily from my personal interactions with bi-racial people. The main things I hear online are a.) bi-racial people wanting to be acknowledged as separate and apart from blacks and b.) bi-racial people talking about how beautiful and exotic they are. And I agree with both things! I do agree that bi-racial people have the right to self-define and should not, by default, be thrown in with black people. And I do think that many bi-racial people are strikingly beautiful and exotic. But I stand by my contention — I don’t hear much else coming from the bi-racial community beyond that. And I don’t have patience for someone who wants me to feel they’re different from and more beautiful than me — without providing more of a thoughtful rationale.
In one of my comments (I think it’s on the second page) I mention Rebecca Walker’s book, “Black White and Jewish”. And I know there’s a Mixed Roots film festival for bi-racial Americans. Things like that interest me, because I feel that they are thoughtful. But I still feel that many bi-racial people are happy to be defined by their physical appearance because, in American society, that definition is favorable. And that frustrates me.
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 “African American” you are mixed. So wouldn’t the name “Mixed Chicks” then apply to all “African Americans”?
Light skinned/dark skinned…huh? In the rest of the world you are simply (as somebody stated above) “team black”. With all these “fallouts” over self-imposed racism it really seems as though “the worlds most progressive black people” aren’t that progressive after all!
I wonder why they bother with their overseas shipping or their UK website then, because I’m British, not African American, nor am I mixed.
I’ve never had any plans to buy their products and that’s not going to change now.
I’m convinced that the world will come to an end.
Pure foolishness.
@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 more than black people.
To suggest that a light-skinned black person doesn’t have the same experience in the U.S. is utterly ridiclous, and perhaps shows the poor jobs that our schools do in teaching black history. Rosa Parks was light skinned and had wavy hair and she was told to get up out of that seat. Let’s get real here people. Read some history books before you want to claim that Ms. Parks didn’t have an authentic black experience b/c she was light skinned. Crazy, crazy, crazy.
And is it just me or does one of those girls look very much like the very non-mixed Natalie Cole? Every time I see her, that’s what I think of. This chicks and others need to stop the madness since for a lot of them, the only way I know that one of your parents isn’t black is b/c you told me.
“I think that no one hates dark black skin more than black people.”
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. Couldn’t agree more.
If you think non-blacks don’t 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 “comfortable” the lighter their skin is and are perceived differently, often positively, compared to blacks with darker hues.
@Jade, I’m not mistaken. There was never a light-skinned colored and a dark skinned colored bathroom. Just a colored bathroom. That’s 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 she’d have been picked for advancement in the ranks at BET or Johnson Publications? No. I think she’d have been pulled aside by other black people and told to “do her hair.”
Here’s a snapshot of some of the most powerful blacks in business, and that is, businesses founded and run by non-black people. Do they look light-skinned to you?
https://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/10/31/business/01generation.1.ready.html
Studies aside, plenty of black people excel just fine in corporate America and academia without having light skin. Now put those same people in the club, and we’ll see a much different outcome.
No one makes a BIGGER issue out of light vs. dark skin more than black people themselves, and we did it in our own institutions (sororities, fraternities, and other social organizations), and do it in terms of how we define our own beauty, and many of us do it in terms of choosing our own mates.
What someone might answer in a study is not the same as what they actually act out on AND what they choose to politicize.
My multi-hued family is from the deep south, and my parents spent their childhood in the pre-Civil Rights era and trust me, no one was getting a break for having light skin and curly hair. And that is the honest truth.
There may not be many black models in fashion magazines, but among the handfuls who are there, I see Alek Wek and similarly hued women with short afros featured. I don’t think Naomi Campbell would have gotten a shot with black agents either. Show me one time when a woman that looks like her(Alek) has been in a black music video or in King magazine or even Ebony.
Look, so many of our stupid rules and expressions for how we describe ourselves are completely unknown to white people. And a true racist doesn’t care how light or dark you are. White people who hate black just hate black, not a specific kind. We’re the ones who have decided that some kinds of black are better, prettier, etc.
Have you seriously in your life ever not gotten a job or something else and thought that the white man would have given it to you if you were yellow (I have no idea what color you are)?
My own experience has taught me that a person who doesn’t want me because I’m black (if I suspect that to be the case), wouldn’t pick me if I was 5 shades lighter. The studies you refer to mention “comfort” level, and don’t tie into or prove a correlation with things like employment and education, where it would REALLY matter.
From reading a little bit of history the whole strife started with the “first slaves” who mingled with white people (place your favorite “mixed chick” here) and the unkept “field slaves” that came soon after (they didn’t 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. It’s a long interesting story, but the kicker is even in 2011 I can still hear it in the voices of many of our elders which is then shared with our children.
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 researcher’s 5-shade 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
The worst thing about the Mixed Chicks #teamlightskin wahala (problem) is that they haven’t issued a sincere apology for the ignorance. The management pretends to be naive to the fallout the term would/did cause and doesn’t care enough about the consumer to address it on TWITTER or on their own homepage. This makes me suspect that an “owner”/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 (https://sakitaholley.com/2011/01/17/the-pr-fallout-from-mixedchicks-choosing-a-side) speaks on this as well.
LMAO…Wahala…my sister how nau?
I dey dey now. 🙂 How dey body?
I’m on team #LighterToneDuringWinterMonthsAndDarkCaramelDuringTheSummerOnesAndSlightlyWhiteWhenDryAndAshy
Who’s with me?
Why are surprised ? IGNORANT BRAND NAME = IGNORANT TWIT. Mixed chicks ? What is that suppose to mean ? Do they all have the same hair texture ? And…mixed with what ? Isn’t Caucasian and Idian considered mixed as well ?
I’ve been to the Mixed Chicks website. Their front page days the products are for any race or combination.
The name of the products don’t 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?
Plain, ol’ fashioned stupidity. Anyone who supports this company is a fool. I can’t believe it’s 2011 and we are still going on about light skin vs. dark skin. Pathetic!
Team Dark Skin vs. Team Light Skin????? Please, I’m 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 don’t 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 don’t use any Mixed chicks products or plan too so I’m not personally offended by this. How silly of them though.
I wouldn’t let Garnier (a subsidiary of Revlon) off the hook so easily either…
https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6279418.stm
https://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jul/07/france.angeliquechrisafis
I wouldn’t let Loreal off the hook either..
https://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jul/07/france.angeliquechrisafis
What a bad marketing tool ,the 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 won’t try it…… Well that’s such a shame… I suppose ignorance is bliss……..
I didn’t 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, I’m sure it will ultimately cost these ladies thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
I never gave them or their products the time of day because of their brand name ‘mixed chicks’. As a dark skinned girl with a white partner living in the UK, mixed chicks need to understand that over here we’re 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 ‘Team Black’.
1 up for ‘Team Black’
seriously…You could be teamlightskin looking like red foxx in the face with hair like ‘Shaun the sheep’ and their products would still suck for you… takes more than a name to make a good product.
Hello!
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. I’m 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 “mixed-people” because they know they are more accepted in Amercian society-which seems to be natural because most of America is Anglo. They want for people to know that they are different. A person with a yellow complexion, light-eyes and stretched curly hair has a different story to tell of their American experience than an ebony-skinned person who has tighter coiled hair. I hate that people still care about phenotype-it’s sad. It’s even sadder when people use it to their “advantage”.
And yes I’m another that hasn’t bought “mixed chicks” because the name doesn’t sit right with me.
It’s 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. :/
1. This debate is ridiculous and any who attended that party should really do some introspection.
2. I don’t know who handles their marketing, but it’s really obvious that someone else is needed. STAT!
Foolish move fueled by ignorance.. Not purchasing their products & encouraging my friends not to support them.
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. Can’t it just be curls and coils, regardless of whether you consider yourself mixed or not.
Whoever is in charge of their twitter feed needs be fired. It’s going to take them a long time of laying low to recover from this mess they’ve gotten themselves into.
I have always steered clear of this brand simply because of the name – it’s 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 – 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 don’t understand how you can be a beauty product but only support one idea of beauty…something’s wrong with that philosophy right there. They need to go back to the drawing board!
And here am thinking these so called companies could be a professional business. If we can’t stop a problem with ourselves how do we expect to move on?
Oh the nonsense …should we start #team medium skin too…
That was about the dumbest thing ever! Terrible from a PR perspective. Their on my list now. Someone over there is just not smart.
The Beautiful One
17 January 2011 at 8:53 pm
Permalink
What would you expect from a company who names their product “mixed chicks” ? I was already giving them the *side eye* for naming their product “mixed chicks” 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, it’s just not a good look at all, especially if you have a silly name like “mixed chicks.” smh @ black people…
——————————————————————-
I agree with this.
At the same time, ‘mixed-chicks’ should’nt be thrown out ‘with the bath water’. They erred. I have a young ‘light-skinned’ relative who thinks the way they do, and it is not a good look, but, it is an American interpersonal and social reality, ‘mixed-chicks’ just ‘forgot’ to suppres their real beliefs/feelings’, oops!
Gross. That’s the first word I thought of when I read this. But, maybe tacky & immature are better descriptions. Their name “MixedChicks” always made me feel “some type of way”. And their previous websites et al weren’t too welcoming. I’m so glad I never gave them my money!
They said they tweeted to different teams, but they NEVER tweeted to #teamdarkskin. I guess they’re not interested in THAT head of hair. -_-
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 don’t 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 they’re 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 there’s still that subtle connotation to that tweet.
Sigh, first off from a business perspective why would you want to make your darker skinned customers feel excluded. & beyond that why would you just want to further contribute to the separation amongst black women, over trivial things like skin color. The nice thing I’ve found about the natural community is that there’s a sense of community, and I’ve learned to accept myself and see the beauty in other women of all tones and textures. I’m used to seeing this type of ignorance in other facets of society, but not in the curly hair care world, this was quite surprising & disappointing, thanks for covering it though.
Meh, this sounds like a bad idea all around.
It’s 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.
I’ve 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 zombie… ‘WE’ supposedly buried the n-word and yet it still lives. When something transcends death like that… its a problem that needs to be some kind of supernatural solution…lol
Their products are sub par and overpriced anyway…
Forget my personal experience – this was just a bad business move. As a woman w/naturally curly hair – i know i won’t purchase their products. If they don’t have good judgement in something like this, i can’t trust them in any other way….
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……….light skin is forever favored. Lil Wayne says on a song, “beautiful black woman bet that ***** look better Red.” So it just seems like a phony battle. A battle, a division, that shouldn’t even exist. Beauty is beauty.
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.
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 isn’t solely mutually exclusive to one skin tone or heritage so I don’t 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 their products nor have a desire to use it after mixed reviews
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 I’ve never understood the need to act like “mixed” hair is any different from black hair. I think it comes from people, esp. some moms, not wanting to associate their kids hair with our “Black” hair. I’ve definitely heard white women asking for hair advice but making it clear that their kids have “biracial” hair and not “black” hair. Yeah, the two things are the same.
Whenever anyonen wants to try to throw the light skin equals curly hair, I think of Vanessa L. Williams, or if they try to talk about mixed people hair, I always think of Lenny Kravitz. Um, yeah, lots of “curls” on those two.
not to mention that if you identify yourself as “black”, you acknowledge that you are probably of mixed racial descent anyways…
omfg. clearly that company is run by idiots.
either they didn’t listen to their pr person, the pr person gave them the wrong advice, or they don’t have a pr person to advise them.
or maybe they are just in need of good old-fashion common business sense that says – don’t 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
I never purchased their products because I sorta felt like they weren’t for me even though I was relaxed. Too overpriced and i’m not mixed. But now that i’m transitioning and searching new products i’m glad they reaffirmed my decision not to give them any of my money. Sally’s is coming out with Mixed Silk products that are supposed to be like theirs anyways.
Are we really doing this in 2011?
Mess..
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.
I threw up in my mouth a little when I read “#teamlightskin” and “#teamdarkskin” – more of the same old crap! The company’s name is bad enough but I didn’t 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 “just for fun”) thing is just inexcusable. Shame on who ever came up with the competition, the participants AND DEFINITELY SHAME ON MIXED CHICKS! SMMFH!
And, I know to stay away from this company and it’s products, they won’t be getting any of my business. It doesn’t matter if they sided with team light skin or team dark skin or both, it’s just unacceptable, period.
What would you expect from a company who names their product “mixed chicks” ? I was already giving them the *side eye* for naming their product “mixed chicks” 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, it’s just not a good look at all, especially if you have a silly name like “mixed chicks.” smh @ black people…
cosign. i always thought the brand’s 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 couldn’t use their products but let’s 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 “natural curls” don’t mean all natural curls, or coils or kinks or whatever you want to call them. We can’t get mad for Mixed Chicks for what they done.
Of course they are team light skin, they are light skin! Just like a darker skinned sister would be Team Dark Skin. Come on people, this is not that hard to figure out. They saw an opportunity to market within their niche and they took it.
There is a TON of products geared toward natuarl hair that is more inclusive and geared toward ALL Black women Not to say that Mixed Chicks isn’t, but there are plently of products that we can support without natually given a side eye to them and making us feel like the product is for us, by us.
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?
“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?”
THIS is the crux of the matter for me. Thank you.
I would add that the hair of many a “mixed chick” runs the gamut of texture, thickness and curl…just like many of us who are not “mixed” (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 “Mixed” I fig they were not talking to me or any of my other sista’s 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.
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.
Here is the link to the twitter page: https://twitter.com/mixedchicks
This example is why I don’t 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 probably just use it for promotion and events, and create a personal account for themselves (COMMON SENSE). I don’t think they honestly meant to offend anyone it was just a tactless statement made without any forethought.
Oh and they do reference other “teams” such as “team curly” and “team blasian” but none of theses are in the realm of skin tone.
“the person managing this account should probably just use it for promotion and events, and create a personal account for themselves (COMMON SENSE).”
No crud! I have a business Twitter account and I only use it for business related announcements – not to get embroiled in social media mudslinging. Ugh. Mixed Chicks really stirred up an ant’s nest with this one. *shakes head*
The updated tweets aren’t much better, I’m hoping this is an issue with whomever they’ve utilized to maintain the page and not the expression of the owners. And if that is the case and the owners are smart they’ll get rid of that individual ASAP!
“This example is why I don’t have a twitter account and I think easy access media (twitter, facebook, etc.) does more harm than good.” Me too! And I refuse to get on facebook.
OK, I guess I hit the return key too quickly?…. I also wanted to add that Twitter is the new “drunk dialing” except that people aren’t usually drunk when they tweet nonsense. There is no filter!! Twitter and reality television will be the downfall of humanity as we know it…
This is one of the dumbest marketing ploys I’ve ever encountered. Mixed Chicks should have kept their nose of out this silliness, because that is exactly what this ‘beef’ is – pure silliness.
I think they just re-branded their products #dumbchicks… or #ignorantchicks. They’ve 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….
and the struggle continues…
LMBAO @ dumbchicks! Um yeah that was tacky. ALso, pretty silly considering that as someone else mentioned I’ve 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!
AND… I’m a New Englander, Pats fan, darkskin with Natural 4b-c hair… so I guess that’s the big F-U 3 times…
rule #1 in business – assume nothing.
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 “non-mixed” friends. We’re all mixed chicks if we’re black. It’s just all really stupid and depressing. Time to let this old timey crap go.
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.
ooohhhh whether they sent messages to both “teams” or just one (which is a tiny weeny bit worst), it was just insensitive!
Oh the foolishness that goes on! i didn’t even know anything about these teams at war, WTH???? 🙁
Pure foolishness –
both the party and messages to “team dark skin and team lightskin.” 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 “team lightskin aand team darksin.” until then…. it’s foolishness