While the whole world is rallying behind ‘Black Lives Matter‘, fashion brand Elan is trying to cash in on racial tensions. The Pakistani luxury brand Elan regularly uses an African model in its photoshoots, and this action almost always leads to a public outcry on social media.
In photographs for their new campaign, the brand showcased model Mushk Kaleem with a black male model. The model was not there to model clothes like Mushk Kaleem but as a prop.
Many folks feel that the black male model was really just there for the eye candy, as an exotic backdrop. This is not OK, they say.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA5yfIAg6rG/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
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The actual garment Mushk Kaleem was modeling was inspired by Central Asian tapestries. The picture caught the attention of netizens and they immediately called out Elan’s racist approach. However, Elan denies that was their intention in any way.
Exoticizing any race, reduces them to an object rather than a human, much like objectification.
“Why would you fetishize race in this way?! This is ridiculous, please find some other not to blatantly racist way of promoting your products,”
Others pointed out how insensitive it is to try and cash in on the momentum of the ‘Black Lives Matter‘ movement. Racial tensions are not something that should be commodified.
Seriously, elan? Are those your props? pic.twitter.com/CJnq63Ml3o
— 🤡 (@notttvisible) June 1, 2020
Elan responds to criticism
Elan says that they started their campaign before America’s racial tensions erupted recently.
“Our campaign started in March and was shot in January.”
Elan’s very own Khadija Shah believes that making everything about cultural appropriation is dumb.
https://twitter.com/khadijah_shah/status/1267888396103561216
https://twitter.com/khadijah_shah/status/1267889566092079106
In Elan’s defense, Khadija Shah stated her campaign just depicts an interracial couple.
https://twitter.com/khadijah_shah/status/1267830078727061513
She further tries to justify her stance:
https://twitter.com/khadijah_shah/status/1267824733665427461
https://twitter.com/khadijah_shah/status/1267820796056989696
Khadija says that no one had any issues when white people were used in a fashion campaign. Maybe that’s because white people haven’t been and aren’t systematically oppressed, and discriminated against? Meanwhile, black people have suffered through hundreds of years of history of slavery and colonialism.
https://twitter.com/khadijah_shah/status/1267845940628652032
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This brings ups the fact this isn’t the first time Elan has been called out for its problematic approach.
Do you think Elan is in the wrong here? Or are people blowing it out of proportion like Khadija argues? We’ll let the readers draw their own conclusions.
