White people, listen, it's time we all had a meeting. We really need to stop doing this sh*t.
By which I mean, we all need to stop stealing pieces of black (and other people of color) cultures, like using spray tan to turn our skin brown.
A Swedish spray tan company called Emmaatan recently came under fire for selling its line of "dark" tans, which many say is just blackface.
Emma Patissier Alm, the owner of the company, is facing accusations of cultural appropriation and racism, particularly in response to her Instagram photos, which feature white women using the product to turn their skin dark brown.
I'm not sure it's still tanning if your skin ends up a whole different color.
This one's called Super Dark Violet. Yikes.
Mmmmmm, nope.
The names of these hues don't help, with titles like Violet Onyx, Dark Ash Onyx, Caramel and Dark Chocolate.
Unsurprisingly, many criticized Emmaatan for cultural appropriation, like the site Black Girl with Long Hair, which said,
Shaming dark skin is a foundational tenet of many beauty norms -- not just in the United States, but worldwide. So it is quite bizarre to see dark skin being bottled up and sold like this.
Alm responded to the criticism in an apologetic Instagram post, where she wrote,
I've got a lot of feedback and mostly been called 'black face' and racist. Ppl looks at my pic I've posted and without a blink assuming we desire to look black, I understand why it might seem that way and I apologize for the miss understanding my pic may have approached. Tanning is very popular these days because of the cancer factor, everybody is talking about how dangerous the sun beds is and therefore looking for a healthier option. I will never understand how 'black ppl' is facing the world and it's sad to know ppl don't get respect just because of their looks. I do feel I need to explain the factor of a spraytan, first of all it never gets black, a lot of my pic is a result of a few sec after applying the tan. fake tan always gets really dark because of the activation of the result of the color.
OK, so let's take this as a lesson because this seriously needs to stop.
I know we all wish we could be black without all the systematic oppression that comes with it since, let's face it, black people are pretty damn cool.
But, we all really can't do that. You guys remember that whole slavery thing, right?
Citations: A Spray Tan Company is Being Accused of Selling Blackface in a Bottle (Teen Vogue), [Pics] Swedish Women are Doing “Chocolate” Spray Tans to Darken Their Skin (Black Girl with Long Hair)
