Companies will hire the most beautiful models to promote their brand but if there are two things that are still lacking to this day, it’s diversity and representation. While it’s not wrong for these companies to hire foreign models to promote their brand, people have wondered by they don’t also hire local models.
A few days ago, fashion designer and artist Sarah Ryan Hill posted a video on her TikTok channel to discuss something she noticed when it comes to fashion and cosmetic brands’ advertisements. The foreign woman residing in Kuala Lumpur pointed out that she hasn’t seen local models being hired as much as white models to promote these brands.
@sarainkualalumpur Im not judging , I only wanted to share my thoughts , what do you think? #modelingmalaysia #asianmodels #modelsasia
“I’m at a train station in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and this brand thought it was a very good idea to use white models to promote their products. Take a look around. I mean, they’re pretty but why not hire local models? Malaysia has so many beautiful models and I feel people would be able to relate to them more,” she said while showing local cosmetic brand Alha Alfa’s advertisements on the trains’ doorways.
In her captions, the artist clarified that she was not judging but simply wanted to share her opinions that both local and international brands should hire models from the countries where they’re promoting their products. Netizens flooded the comments section agreeing with the seamstress that they’ve seen too many companies, even local ones using foreign models instead of those from Malaysia.
Some expressed disappointment in the local brand shown in the video for not using Malaysian models while others argued that international brands wanted to save costs of hiring models from each region to promote their business. There were also those who speculated that even local brands believe models with lighter skin colours and slim figures are the beauty standard compared to those who do not fit the bill.
We’re glad that many feel the same way. We hope that local brands will be more inclusive in the future and actually use Malaysian models to promote local products, especially during the festive seasons. What do you think?
Source: TikTok
