Pinterest is the fastest growing social media site. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's an online image congregate where you sift through products and save them onto different "boards." I've been an avid user since their invite-only launch in 2010. I'm shamelessly into consumerism and find scrolling through their DIY and Women's Fashion categories cathartic.
The website has become vital in maintaining a business' online presence. It drives the most ecommerce traffic to websites -- more than Facebook and Twitter combined -- because it's a way for customers to go window shopping at every store in the world simultaneously, and save everything they liked for later. In fact, when it was just starting 4 years ago, I was being contracted to run a wedding stationer's Etsy account. Within the first six months of it's debut, Pinterest was the shops second highest referral source after Etsy, itself.
For a business to run its Pinterest account successfully, it must do more than just post its products. The business has to create online vision boards that are cohesive with their mission. For example, a wedding stationer could create a board called "Vintage Country Rustic Wedding" and post dresses, venues, decorations, and anything else from other companies, along with their invitations, to cater to a popular theme. It's a way to visualize a concept and sell a product in a specific context.
Social businesses in Fair Trade fashion use Pinterest to not only post their products, but to help perpetuate their humanitarian missions. However, I stumbled upon a few organizations that inadvertently "othered" the people they aim to help. What I mean by "othered" is "Us vs. Them."
"Us" as being the first world consumer and "Them" as the third world maker. The example I have is from Live Worldly. They wholesale items that are made by marginalized people in South America, Africa, and Asia. But, here are screenshots of their Pinterest profile:
For priding themselves on being a business with an expansive worldview, their boards have the American ideal of what females should look like. These models look nothing like the women who actually make their products. Where are the dark skinned women, the flat noses, and the voluptuous figures? Why are some of the fashion pieces from companies that use sweatshops? It's convoluted and, frankly, offensive.
In every Asian country I've been to, White is equated with beauty. There are women who use painful bleaching creams because they think they're too dark. Lighter skin is associated with wealthier classes because they are not doing physical labor in the sun all day. Even my mother, who has always been a goddess to me, told me her dark skin was ugly and how lucky I am that my father "lightened me up." Growing up in White Suburbia, I was well into my twenties before I recovered from the "light is better" mental conditioning.
Of course, like any social business, their is a fair labor board where we see the people who make their products. Us vs. Them.
Conversely, Raven + Lily know their product, clients, and customers. Here are screenshots from their Pinterest Profile:
This is called "brand cohesion." There are women who represent multiple ethnicities. The model in their 2014 lookbook proudly shows off her natural hair texture. They showcase clothing and jewelry that are culturally appropriate for their products and the products' makers. Granted, the models are still "model skinny" but I only fight one fashion battle per day. Models are used as "placeholders" by designers. They are meant to be unremarkable so women can imagine themselves wearing the clothing. This is why the term "supermodel" exists -- being super in that industry is few and far between.
Part of a social business' responsibility is to use their public image to speak for those who can't speak for themselves. They are meant to elevate their clients' standard of living by giving them access to the global marketplace. This cannot be done if the only customers in that marketplace they are speaking to conform with what society tells us in beautiful.
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