The Accountability Factor of a Mere YouTube Plankton
When I decided to start a beauty focused YouTube channel I already knew that the Beauty Community was notorious for its abundance of scandal. I will not regurgitate the nauseating details of said scandals because there are plenty of articles and videos already devoted to the people and brands involved. As a non-black woman of color (I am Latinx) I was prepared with a list of brands and influencers to avoid ahead of time. I would not purchase these products or support these individuals in any way either in my everyday life or online. I would instead focus on supporting brands and people who have shown they were worthy of the money, time, and attention that even a barely visible online presence such as mine could offer.
Unfortunately, it is never quite as easy as that. I have been an avid supporter of Juvia’s Place, and after Colourpop, they comprise the bulk of my makeup collection. I own almost every eyeshadow palette they have ever released (still feeling the heartbreak of missing The Tribe), and love just about everything they make. That said, here is where the problems began.
The recent scandal involving Juvia’s Place and beauty influencer Maggie Carrie https://www.insider.com/juvias-place-posts-video-with-anti-asian- slur-2022-1 have highlighted a history of the brand and their CEO, Chichi Eburu, that is less than stellar.
The majority of the issues have been the lack of support or outright disrespect the brand has had for black creators, even large creators like Jackie Aina and Alissa Ashley. Or the reports of terrible customer service and awful treatment of customers in general when reaching out to resolve an issue related to products. The brand is notorious for having a “no returns policy” even if products arrive damaged beyond repair. Customers have publicly reported being blocked on social media after trying to rectify issues related to receiving damaged goods.
Admittedly, I was aware of this history when I began purchasing from them. These incidents had happened years before I became aware of their brand. I used this fact to justify my desire to purchase their makeup. This is not only shameful but lame. I own up to that now and regret my choice to heavily financially support a business that threw their black customers and loyal beauty nano/micro influencers under the bus while sending PR to larger white ones. https://www.popdust.com/juvias-place-2646186960.html
My YouTube channel is fairly new, it only has (as this article is being written) a total of 32 videos on it. I have 43 subscribers and my most watched video has 117 views.
Obviously I am no Nikkie Tutorials. I receive zero PR, everything I use or show on my channel has been purchased using my own money. I honestly prefer that though because it allows me to review products without feeling like I have to be grateful for being lucky enough to have been given the items for free.
Basically I am a mere plankton in a sea of Great Whites, Blue Whales, and even some intimidating Portuguese Man-o-War.
However even a plankton has an opinion and a right to be heard so I keep pushing ahead in the hopes that maybe I will someday transform into an obscure yet brightly painted seahorse.
I had wanted to focus the month of February to reviewing black owned businesses and use predominantly products from these businesses. This would be a goal I wanted to maintain for the entire year, because one month seems like a hollow obligatory gesture at best.
Of course, I would make videos of the never-ending Colourpop releases as well as Nomad, Beauty Bay, Kaleidos, all of the brands that I genuinely love, but my focus would be on showing love and support to black owned businesses that I have positive experiences their products.
Then, Juvia’s Place posted the tutorial of Maggie Carrie using an anti-Asian slur to their Instagram. Even after followers had pointed out the slur, Juvia’s Place did not take down the video or address the incident. A whole 4 days passed before they issued an apology and when they did issue it, they did so to their Instagram stories, which is an interesting choice when it comes to addressing such a serious subject.
This brings me to today. I am sitting here in my small home “studio/beauty room” where I create my videos.
For the past 10 days I have been trying to figure out how in the world do I support black owned cosmetics companies and ignore one that I not only have the most products from, but also love the quality? Do I use the products and hope no one calls me out or worse, cancels me, for it? Do I speak up and say exactly why I am using these products and how I feel about the actions of this brand and their treatment of black beauty vloggers as well as their black customers? Is it ok for me to do so as a non-black woman of color? What are my motivations for doing so? Am I sincere in my desire to support the black community or am I just another woke non black woman speaking over black voices?
I gotta say I am tired. My brain has been running around in circles for the past 10 days and I feel sick to my stomach thinking about using the brand new palettes and foundations that I purchased months ago with the sole intention of doing a “Full Face of Juvia’s Place GRWM” style video. So much money spent on these products and now I am purposefully avoiding even looking at them.
They are sitting in their packing in their little box that they were delivered in, waiting for me to even swatch them.
So, as a new content creator, as a person who has no fellow friends in the beauty vlogger/influencer community, I am unsure exactly what I am to do. Do I use the products as I had planned to do before, but take the opportunity to discuss what happened and the concerns I have with using the products? Or do I just give them the cold shoulder the way that I do with other brands that have shown racist/problematic behaviors and do not mention their names or purchase/use their products at all? Essentially boycott them entirely?
What about the products I have already purchased? Juvia’s Place already has my money, do I keep the products and just not credit them if I use them?
For an environment that is considered superficial, the beauty community really does cause you to ask yourself what kind of person do you want to be, what exactly do you stand for, why, and if your actions actually align with that.
And it is exhausting.
