News
What One Little Fashion Blogger Can Do: M·A·C Pulls Plug on M·A·C Rodarte Makeup Collection
By Leah Chernikoff
M·A·C announced yesterday afternoon that they will not ship their M·A·C Rodarte Makeup Collection “out of Respect for women and girls of Juárez and their families.” The cosmetics company will uphold their commitment to donate all of their projected profits from the collection to benefit the women of Juarez, and added that they are conducting due diligence to ensure that the organizations that receive donations have “a proven record of directly supporting the women and girls of Juarez.”
The statement continues: “M·A·C and Rodarte are deeply and sincerely sorry and we apologize to everyone we offended. We have listened very closely to the feedback of concerned global citizens. We are doing our very best to right this wrong. The essence of M·A·C is to give back and care for the community and Rodarte is committed to using creativity for positive social change. We are grateful for the opportunity to use what we have learned to raise awareness on this important issue. ”
Of course, this big decision, which likely cost M·A·C a pretty penny (including dollars spent by M·A·C and Rodarte on damage control), can be traced back to a single blog post written on July 15th by Jessica Wakeman at the Frisky. “MAC/Rodarte Makeup Collaboration Names Nail Polish After Impoverished, Murdered Women,” read Wakeman’s headline.
The rest is viral fashion blog history. Many fashion blogs, including this one, picked up Wakeman’s story. When NY Mag’s the Cut pressed M·A·C for a statement, they responded with a pledge to donate a portion of the proceeds of the line to help women in Juarez. Then M·A·C issued yet another statement of apology on July 29th following their meeting with Mexican Government officials, including CONAVIM (Comisión Nacional Para Prevenir y Erradicar la Violencia Contra las Mujeres/National Commission to Prevent and Eradicate Violence Against Women). Now, just about a month after Wakeman’s post, and after apologizing many times and committing to help the women of Jaurez, the line is no more. Who ever said blogging can’t affect change?
No word yet on what M·A·C plans to do with the controversy-causing line but we’ve reached out to the company for comment and will report back when we have word.
Most Popular Stories
Comments [15]
Popular Stories
The 10 Best YouTube Hair Tutorials
The 10 Best YouTube Makeup Tutorials 
Fashion's Most Stylish Guys Give Mark Zuckerberg an (Almost!) Hoodie-Free Makeover for Facebook's IPO
Style and Substance: 10 Ladies Who Have Proven You Can Have Both
10 Beauty Boards You Should Be Following on Pinterest
very depressed because i wanted to buy rodarte makeup
There’s no such thing as a little fashion blogger anymore. Just saying.
None of your articles mention this blogger. Does anyone know who this blogger is that “stopped” the presses?
It’s about time bloggers get noticed and that a controversial issue is resolved for the best.
While I appreciate the consideration that MAC & Rodarte are trying to project, I think more could be done to raise awareness & benefit the women of Juarez by continuing with the collection. This to me seems like we’re just sweeping it under the rug.
MAC is still being stupid by consulting with a government agency to deal with this and give th government agency the money; HELLO the government hasnt done anything about the situation going on down there for over TEN years and for all we know they are involved in the whole thing. By giving the goverment the money the are continuing to contribute to the corruption that has been plaguing Mexico for over 100 years.
Um… “Of course, this big decision, which likely cost M·A·C a pretty penny (including dollars spent by M·A·C and Rodarte on damage control), can be traced back to a single blog post written on July 15th by Jessica Wakeman at the Frisky. “MAC/Rodarte Makeup Collaboration Names Nail Polish After Impoverished, Murdered Women,” read Wakeman’s headline.”
Actually, I think a LOT of beauty bloggers did their bit as well. I got all my info from the beauty blogs not the fashion ones…
Am I the only one who thinks that this is kinda blown out of control, because its only makeup? I don’t think The sisters sat around thinking about how to insult the public and such. I only hope after all this that more attention will be given to Juarez the country.
Except Juarez is not a country. It’s a border town in Mexico.
Oh no, why didn’t anyone tell me they are doing damage control?! I already bleached out the “J’adore Rodarte” on my t-shirt!
I think above all, MAC shouldn’t just be raising awareness. They should have pledged to donate proceeds to the city and cause before the collection ever hit stores. From what I gather, that didn’t happen until someone confronted them about it. If you have to do damage control, it’s probably best to stop doing it.
Rodarte’s collection was in poor taste already, so I’m not sure why there was a makeup collaboration on it. Seems like a bad move to start with.
It is clear that fashion companies wanting “to make a difference” should be doing more research before rolling out these half-baked campaigns. I would think that if you truly wanted to help these women you wouldn’t be putting more money in the hands of corrupt officials. Try a respected charity instead.
You are missing the point. Proceeds from the makeup line were supposed to assist poor women in Mexico. Instead they have managed to glamorize exploitation by naming a pretty pink nail varnish “Juarez” after a border town notorious for the rapes and murders of its young women factory workers. They should change the names of the product to names like “hope” and :empowerment” and donate the entire proceeds (plus a big donation) to a non-government aid charity that will really help these women.
You’re fucking retarded.