A couple of months ago, I saw an Instagram ad by the fashion company Mango that I found just a tad bit...interesting. It was a video promoting their new line, Tribal Spirits, intended to draw its inspiration from the African savanna, and, apparently, its "tribal spirit." The video featured Kendall Jenner, the face of the campaign, modeling the pieces, intercut with images of what could only be an attempt to convey stereotypical Africa: a red setting sun, trees characteristic of the savanna, a cheetah running. This video can be found here.
The problems with this advertisement are abundant, and one can't help but wonder what made this company choose such a distasteful method, or what they hoped to accomplish. I'm assuming that by coining the line "Tribal Spirit" they wanted to instill a sense of exoticness into their clothing -- further accomplished by the use of supposedly tribal prints and designs like fringe (which is not even African? it's Native American??) -- and a feeling of wanderlust, making potential buyers daydream about far-off countries that they've always wanted to visit, or adventurous things they've always wanted to do -- like go on safaris, clearly. And now, this target psychographic has a perfect collection of clothing available to them if they ever do get to fulfill their dreams, or, to just showcase their, well, "tribal spirit" in everyday life! Wonderful!
Kidding, actually not so wonderful at all. The above description is part of the reason why the ad is an issue. You see, the appeal of African or tribal clothing to the West isn't that surprising, if you consider how much we love to fetishize the cultures of distant places like Africa, places in which the people have been subject to centuries of Western violence and imposed inferiority. But then, we just as quickly turn around and make said culture into an object for our own consumption. We're so willing to embrace Africa's lions and red suns but when faced with Africans themselves, we throw a $10 bill into the pity collection for the poor, incapable peoples and turn away. Similarly, tribal clothing, or mimicry of it, is "the next big trend!!" (taken straight off another of Mango's Instagram promotions for "Tribal Spirit"), when white people like Kylie Jenner proclaim it to be so -- but, such designs have been worn by indigenous people for decades and never do they get the same accolades. Simply put, Africans or Native Americans aren't valuable to us, are disposable, in fact, but their clothing patterns are cool (when a white person wears them and white company designs them)!! Or, actual tribal customs are alien or savage or archaic, but if a white person has a "tribal spirit," now that's another story!
The issue of cultural appropriation is very much related to the second glaring problem in the Mango ads, which is: why, if this "Tribal Spirit" line is supposed to be reflective of Africa, couldn't the company at least have used a person of color to represent the campaign?? This would've decreased the obvious problematic-ness of the ad a thousand times. Because if it was an African woman modeling the clothing intended to represent her culture, much of the above rant would lose validity(still, there could be a debate about the morality of Western companies making a "tribal" line and profiting off of it in general, but that's for another time.) However, Mango consciously chose to use Kendall Jenner, a white woman, to be the model of the line. What place does Jenner have embodying Africa, or any place evoked by images of cheetahs and flat top trees and red suns?? Or how can she have a "tribal spirit" when there is literally nothing indigenous about her in any place but Europe?? This advertising choice implies that African or Native American styles look better on non-Africa, non-Native American people, and highlights/exacerbates all the above criticisms.
So to wrap up this way-longer-than-expected rant, this advertisement serves as a form of cultural appropriation whether Mango is aware of it or not, and is yet another thread in the tapestry of racism and the way its woven into power dynamics. "Tribal Spirit" is a reinforcement of the idea that an otherized people can be reduced to the "cool" parts of their culture, the phenomenon in which their hair or clothing is looked down upon when they sport it but "the next big trend!!" when the West decides to. I hope that this made you think critically about ads around you that could also fall into this category, or things that you have done that may perpetuate such a mindset.
Here's to not supporting this line.
xoxo, elyse
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