Vogue Thailand’s latest Instagram photoshoot features a Thai model in blackface makeup meant to impersonate legendary Jamaican-American model, musician, and actress Grace Jones in an ill-advised bid to promote “selfie mode” on Huawei’s new much-hyped P10 phone.
Whether it’s a media stunt to sell a smartphone or the Thai edition of the prestigious fashion magazine is genuinely tone-deaf, its Tuesday Instagram post featuring famous Thai model Virahya “Gina” Patchokechai in cakey dark foundation was labeled an “epic fail” and drew many negative comments from its followers.
Vogue Thailand captioned the photo: “Gina Virahya uses Huawei P10’s selfie mode to capture herself in the look of Grace Jones, the 70’s and 80’s colored model and singer #HuaweixVogue #HuaweiP10.”
Side issue: The look in the photo is more Little Red Riding Hood than Grace Jones and we’re not even going to touch the word “colored.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUs9YzoAOi1/
Virahya gained fame by winning second place on the second season of The Face Thailand, a highly-rated modeling reality show. She also posted the same photo to her own account to promote the smart phone.
Most netizens were displeased with the unfashionable fashion stunt. “This is blackface. It’s racist. Instead of going against other groups of the oppressed, we should be celebrating each other and become allies. If you want to shoot a black model, use a black model. Celebrate her. Anti-blackness is still very current in Thailand and this is just the extension of it. The history of blackface is hurtful,” said user @melony.lemon.
Some commenters did shrug it off though or maybe the issue just went completely over their heads. “We should dress like this and go to the market,” commented Wanpiya “Gwang” Omsinnoppakul, another model from The Face, obviously oblivious to the issue.
Coconuts has reached out to Vogue Thailand and Grace Jones for comment.
The blackface photo demonstrates not-particularly-subtle racism, the kind that underlies Thailand’s long and well-documented history of discrimination against people of color and those with darker skin tones
This is not the first time Vogue Thailand has shown its true colors, so to speak. In April, the magazine published an article praising Kendall Jenner’s style when she visited Bangkok to shoot the Pepsi commercial. The ad was later pulled down after the commercial in question offended many people, since its ending bore too much resemblance to an iconic photograph taken at a Black Lives Matter protest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in July 2016.
Read more on blackface in Thai advertising and culture:
Thailand’s Casual Racism Returns: Comedian in blackface wins ‘Best Dressed’ award at elite party
‘White is winning’ racist whitening pill advert storms web
Dunkin’ Donuts Apologizes for Blackface Advert
Unilever Thailand says sorry for controversial whitening contest
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