If you had walked by one of Sephora’s nearly 400 U.S. stores in May 2019, you would have seen in the window a large photo of a smiling Black woman accompanied by the slogan: “Color Up Close. Foundation for Everyone, Let’s Find Yours Together.” The displays featured other images of diverse models as well, enticing shoppers of all races into the store.
The campaign hit high streets and shopping malls at a crucial time for the mega retailer. That month, singer SZA (aka Solána Imani Rowe) had accused employees at the company’s Calabasas, California, location of racially profiling her. Other customers followed up by sharing stories of discrimination on social media. Sephora closed all of its stores for an hour of mandatory racial bias training for its 16,000 employees that was in the works prior to the tweets. To further demonstrate its commitment to inclusivity, the company tapped April Reign, the activist behind the #Oscars-SoWhite social media campaign, to serve as an adviser and donated millions to racial justice organizations, including the NAACP.
But there was another problem: While the company championed diversity, just 3% of the brands carried in its U.S. stores were Black owned.
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