Lime Crime, you still haven't learned anything

Oh LimeCrime, I'm pretty sure this isn't the best way to address the controversy surrounding the Chinadoll campaign. I'll address the blog post she just wrote further down but there's a bit of baiting on Doe's part that I want to cover.

Image screencapped from DoeDeereBlogazine.com

It's nice to see that they're more concerned with selling their palettes first then addressing all the controversy surrounding it. Way to passive aggressively bait all the people who have felt so offended by the palette. I'm not offended just for kicks and I'm not hating on the brand just for kicks either so the fact that I and others are getting brushed off is ridiculous.

These tweets by the Lime Crime Twitter were in response to these two tweets, this and this. @OutinaPout said this best, "Aladdin is a retelling of traditional Arabic folk stories, so historical costume is warranted. Not an apt comparison" and I have to agree with that. In what way is Lime Crime's stereotypical description "Don't let her milky skin, pouty mouth and flushed cheeks fool you; underneath the poised facade, there lies a heart of a tigress..." somehow on the same level as a Disney film.

I mean come on, really?

Someone needs to take the wheel of this PR nightmare.

I had written this post last night before they had written a blog responding to the controversy so I'll address the blog now. I took screencaps of the blog post which you can find here but didn't include the pictures attached, however you can see the pictures there.

Okay first off, I wasn't offended because it referenced China, I was offended because it was done so in a lackluster and lazy way. Referencing a culture 100% and fully isn't what we're saying, we're saying that you should do it in at least a respectful way!

Chinadoll is a character? "Don't let her milky skin, pouty mouth and flushed cheeks fool you; underneath the poised facade, there lies a heart of a tigress..." What kind of character is this?

Oh for Christ's sake. Did she miss the part where she describes the "Chinadoll character" in terms of having milky skin, a pouty mouth with flushed cheeks with the heart of a tigress? Many people have spoken out that the qualities she writes are in fact associated with the "China doll" stereotype of Asian people and just because it's not associated with any race in her opinion doesn't mean it actually isn't to others! Saying that she can never be, will never, be stereotyped is a little ridiculous to say when she's referencing stereotyped beliefs.

Did Doe miss the next few lines in the definition where it says:

"It describes acculturation or assimilation but can imply a negative view towards acculturation from a minority culture by a dominant culture. It can include the introduction of forms of dress or personal adornment, music and art, religion, language or social behavior. These elements, once remover from their indigenous cultural contexts, can take on meanings that are significantly divergent from, or merely less nuanced than, those they originally held"

I should also note that Doe has said she's read my blog post but I think she may have missed out this vital paragraph that I had written at the top of my post.

"I should preface this by saying that there's nothing wrong with learning about and enjoying another culture. I'm certainly not saying that other people can't be inspired by other cultures or in this case, that non-Asians/outsiders can't enjoy, appreciate, or be a part of an Asian or outside culture. We wouldn't be aware of other cultures if it weren't for people outside the culture seeking to study and learn about it and for members of the culture to want to inform others. Cultures are all different and they're meant to be appreciated for their differences."

She's completely missing the point when she says that the "notion is a little silly". It's other peoples' cultures, they should at least have the right to be offended or bothered when someone appropriates their culture, especially if they're doing it in a bad way. People who are hurt or offended by cultural appropriation aren't saying "You can't do this because you're not ___" it's "You shouldn't profit from my culture considering what we go through". Please read this article about cultural appropriation and how it discusses the concept of whether it's an homage or an insult along with this article on how to NOT culturally appropriate when you wear costumes.

Selling Native American headdresses when they're a revered part of the culture or selling clothing "inspired" by the Navajo is cultural appropriation at its worst. (This is referencing Urban Outfitters' attempt to profit from the Navajo)

Like I said, I don't believe that you have to be ___ to enjoy ___. Putting people into social roles is ridiculous.

Like I said above, there's nothing wrong with being inspired by a culture or inspiring another, but there is a fine line between inspiration and appropriation. Letting a dominant culture borrow from a minority culture and allowing them to do it in a piss poor and ignorant way is NO WAY to solve racism, bigotry, and misanthropy. In fact, it would just make it worse by perpetuating false beliefs and thoughts on the appropriated culture. It is a common for people think geishas were prostitutes because authors and others who culturally appropriated them portrayed them that way. That's not exactly what they were so I don't think that's an example of solving racism, bigotry or misanthropy.

Saying "I'm not going to kill her just because it makes some people uncomfortable -- that would require sacrificing my artistic integrity and sending a radical message I don't believe in to the community" is such a slap to the face to people who have expressed their legitimate opinions and thoughts to the company.

So you're not going to take down the campaign image because it's would require "sacrifice" on your part and that it'd send a racial message to the community? What radical message is that, that you understand why it offends people so you'll do the right thing and alter it or take it down so it doesn't offend others? That apparently requires sacrifice?

So you don't believe that if you culturally appropriate in a negative way and offend as a business owner, you have the responsibility to ensure that your potential customers and others out there aren't offended? You're honestly more concerned with making money?

This is utterly ridiculous. I don't think I will dedicate any more space on my blog to this bullshit. It's nice to know that she doesn't understand why we feel this way and wants us to deal with it because she'll do it any way she wants to. Honestly, how hard would it have been to cancel the campaign and apologize because really, I haven't seen any of that.

Whether it's offensive or not.

Thank you to everyone who's read, comment, retweeted, and retumblred my posts on the matter. Getting the attention of Hyphen Magazine and the Empowering Women of Color Conference is something that you guys managed to do! I wish this had a better outcome.

I know people will say that I can't ever be satisified with what Doe Deere/Lime Crime does but that's because they haven't done ANYTHING satisfactory regarding this. Apologizing and retracting the campaign is apparently too hard to do.

EDIT: Thanks to awesome commenters, they basically reminded me that I never posted about what I thought Lime Crime should do in response to the controversy. I had written this as a reply to someone but never put it in a post. I hope it'll be useful to read what I thought should have happened.

"I actually considered what she was going to ask me when she first messaged me and from that I talked it over a little bit with my boyfriend to postulate what was possible to do at this point (a little under a month before the palette's release and I understood that from a business standpoint, she wasn't going to withdraw the palette.

I know with MAC with the Rodarte Collection, they decided to not release the products at all and they took a financial hit but I know they're large enough to absorb the loss. Lime Crime on the otherhand, I knew was not going to be able to do that.

I thought that she might have asked me what she could have done and after giving it some thought I would have liked if she dropped the campaign and apologized, for real. It's late in the game to completely abandon the product and not cost effective to try to reprint new labels"

I should specify that at the minimum, I would have liked to see the "Don't let her milky skin, pouty mouth and flushed cheeks fool you; underneath the poised facade, there lies a heart of a tigress..." removed from the campaign along with a rewrite of the description for the Chinadoll look.

One last thing I want to add is that if you want to purchase from Lime Crime, then it's your prerogative. I can't tell you not to shop from a company that I personally don't like, I only seek to educate others about who it is that they're supporting when they make a purchase. Whether you shop from there or not, it's your money. Use it how you want to.