I am so ashamed to say that I am now knowledgeable about Juarez through M.A.C – clearly, M.A.C is not an article detailing shameful history but rather a make-up line!
Thank you M.A.C for bringing this terrible injustice to my attention – however, that is all you managed to do for I will not be purchasing anything from this shameful collection. Using those products would make me feel dirty.
Whats all the fuss about?
Juarez is an impoverished Mexican factory town notorious for the number of women between the ages of 12 and 22 who have been raped and murdered with little or no response from police. Most of the young women are employees at the border town’s factories, called maquiladoras, and disappeared on the way to or from work.
Here is the link to an article published about the issue in Lucky Magazine: http://womenofjuarez.egenerica.com/content/view/10/25/. One thing that jumped out at me from reading the many other articles was that the ladies had to show the owners their soiled pads or tampons every month to prove they were not pregnant. There are many more articles about this if you are interested. Please do a search on 'Juarez', 'femicides' or 'maquiladoras' and you will be bombarded with an eye opening view on the issue.
Who is Rodarte?
Rodarte is a brand of clothing and accessories founded by Kate and Laura Mulleavy. Rodarte's work has always been influenced by the macabre things in life (horror films etc). These two sisters took a road trip through Texas and the town of Juarez was the inspiration for the collection!
WHAT RODARTE SAID ON THE MAC AND RODARTE COLLECTION - THEIR OFFICIAL STATEMENT
"Our makeup collaboration with M•A•C developed from inspirations on a road trip that we took in Texas last year, from El Paso to Marfa. The ethereal nature of this landscape influenced the creative development and desert palette of the collection. We are truly saddened about injustice in Juarez and it is a very important issue to us. The M•A•C collaboration was intended as a celebration of the beauty of the landscape and people in the areas that we traveled."
WHAT MAC COSMETICS INITIALLY SAID ON THE MAC RODARTE COLLECTION - THEIR OFFICIAL STATEMENT
"We understand that product names in the M•A•C Rodarte collection have offended some of our consumers and fans. This was never our intent and we are very sorry. We are listening carefully to the comments posted and are grateful to those of you who have brought your concerns to the forefront of our attention. M•A•C will give a portion of the proceeds from the M•A•C Rodarte collection to help those in need in Juarez. We are diligently investigating the best way to do this. Please be assured that we will keep you posted on the details regarding our efforts."
Sorry ain't gonna cut it.
The E/S you see below was initially called Sleepwalker (M.A.C has comitted to changing it's name now), in reference to the ladies who worked in shifts at the maquiladora.
I do not want streaks of blood on my eyes.
After a severe backlash on the blogoshpere M.A.C re-issued another statement saying :-
We understand that product names in the M·A·C Rodarte collection have offended our consumers and fans. This was never our intent and we are very sorry. We continue to listen carefully to the comments we have received and have the following plans to address concerns:
•We are committed to donating $100,000 to a non-profit organization that has a proven, successful track-record helping women in need and that can directly improve the lives of women in Juarez in a meaningful way.
•We are changing the product names in the M·A·C Rodarte collection.
As we have done in the past, please be assured that we will communicate details regarding our progress in this matter.
At least this furore has put a spotlight on the Juarez issue, which I am SURE was M.A.C's intention in the first place! I hope something good comes out of all this......
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