Famous YouTuber and beauty enthusiast Jackie Aina is taking shots at the entire beauty industry by demanding that they publish the number of black employees that currently serve in leadership positions within their organizations. The move comes in response to the massive Black Lives Matter efforts currently sweeping the world in response to the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. While many organizations, including MAC Cosmetics and NYX Cosmetics, have released statements of support for the movement, Jackie is demanding that they publicly display how they are supporting black people within their companies.
In a video posted to Twitter, the influencer said, “Be conscious that to ignore the role you have played and continue to play in depriving black people access to economic participation demonstrates a real lack of genuine desire for actual lasting change. So we ask all brands that have released a statement of support to publicly release within 72 hours the number of black employees they have at their corporate and executive levels within their organizations. We call on everybody to take a stand in solidarity with us in holding brands and corporations accountable.”
She even took it a step further and orchestrated a 72-hour beauty blackout, where consumers refrain from purchasing products from organizations that do not “pull up” and release the information.
“For the next 72 hours, guys,” she said. “Do not purchase from any brand and demand they release these figures. Ask them to pull up for real change or shut.”
Rihanna sent a bold statement to the beauty industry with her FENTY Beauty line on Blackout Tuesday, ordering all operations cease for the entire day to demonstrate her support for the Black Lives Matter movement. FENTY also announced a donation to Color of Change and Movement for Black Lives.
While no beauty brand has responded as of yet, it will be interesting to see their response to the heavily respected influencer, who sports an impressive 3.4 million subscribers on YouTube.
