Between 2014 and 2015 there was only a .1% increase of women of color on magazine covers. This week CULTURS magazine will bring attention to the issue of diversity of colored woman featured in the media.
Besides magazines like Culturs, how do you think we’re doing on diversity today?
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While I do not pay much attention to magazine covers or the advertisements I see, I would agree that there is a lack of diversity presented on magazine covers and beauty advertisements. When there is a non-white person on the cover it is often something I notice and take a second look at. I think it allows wider audiences to find greater relation to the product and more eager to pick up the magazine and read it. Looking at the graphics, I found the diverse women to get fairly repetitive with Michelle Obama, Kerry Washington, Jessica Alba, and Mindy Kaling to be common on several magazine covers. I wonder if more diversity could be added by showcasing women other than the most common celebrities of color? I like that CULTURS upcoming cover is more dynamic and shows an unfamiliar face.
To be honest, I love the visuals and I love the color scheme, but the infographic is kind of misleading. While there is information regarding the percentages of people of color on magazine covers, the top two don’t really look like they belong to the rest of the infographic. Vogue and Allure seem to be separate entities because they aren’t in the pink box like the others which makes me think that they’re either more important than the others or they’re supposed to be separated in some way that isn’t clear.
This infographic is very blunt and much needed, it does a good job on flat-out explaining where diversity lacks within magazine covers. I believe diversity will always need improvement within mass media, especially because we are so used to the standard Eurocentric ideal of beauty. This has been the norm for multiple years, however, the movements to change that will always have my support.
When I originally clicked on this article, I was expecting to read something, and instead just got a big visual. Thus, I was a little disappointed when I kept scrolling down and didn’t find a anything to really read. Besides that, the visual was very well laid out, easy to follow, and very informative. I was surprised by some of the facts that I read and it really just emphasizes how much we struggle as a society with the concept of diversity. This sentence at the end of the article; “Between 2014 and 2015 there was only a .1% increase of women of color on magazine covers” was really astonishing and just sad. Great content, but I wish there was more of a read.
The women listed in these nonwhite magazine covers are all so beautiful — I wish there was more of this diversity in this industry! I didn’t realize Selena Gomez was nonwhite, but I think it was my ignorant self that just assumed she was. I realize now that she, and many of the women listed here, have extremely different and interesting backgrounds that should be celebrated. I applaud these women for standing out when their white counterparts often take the limelight. It is not a bad thing to be white, but we need to celebrate every single woman that stays true to herself. That is what the world needs.
The visuals in this piece created a lot of interest! Representation in magazine publications is something most people idly consume without much consideration. It’s very easy to look at cover after cover of hegemonic visuals without questions. I always find myself browsing through magazines at the grocery store, and haven’t really stopped to think about the type of people I’m usually looking at. Headlines and cover stories also seem to be driven to a “safe” community to build on sales.