Black is beautiful

New York – Skincare brand Shea Moisture is raising awareness about the prejudice of having separate ethnic and beauty aisles.

• Shea Moisture, a brand popular with black consumers, can now be found in the beauty section
• The brand took the opportunity to highlight the divisive constructs of the beauty industry

#BreakTheWalls, created in collaboration with agency Droga5, questions why the ethnic aisle is still allowed to exist in modern society, when it separates one idea of beauty from another.

‘I have often said over the past 20 years that the beauty aisle is the last place in America where segregation is still legal,’ says Richelieu Dennis, founder and CEO of Shea Moisture parent company Sundial Brands.

At present, more than one-third (35%) of the American population is black, Hispanic or an Asian or Pacific islander, according to Geoscape. By 2050, whites will only account for 47% of the US population, according to the Pew Research Center, a prediction that should force a major rethink in the way beauty is marketed.