Black Women Can Change Their Image By Changing Their Spending Habits
The time is now. The movement for black women to make themselves known in the fashion and entertainment industry has begun. Black women simply must stop supporting people in these industries that don’t support them. They have so much buying power and they do not weld it with as much finesse as they should. They buy clothes made from designers who will not use black models and read about these designers in magazines that will not put them on the cover. Black women support movies and TV shows that will not give black actresses a supporting let alone starring role. The music they buy does not seek to uplift and inspire them but degrades and demeans them. They simply must come to terms with the fact that many of those in power are simply not interested in representing them so those in power need to accept that black women are not interested in supporting them financially. Collectively, we can make a difference. A huge difference.
Money talks and it’s about the only thing that will make the powers that be listen to black women’s collective voice. What would happen if black women started taking their millions and even billions of dollars in disposable income and started spending it in different ways? Black women could take that money and just not spend it at all, having a complete boycott of these products and services. This, however, would probably not make the best impact although it would be significant. Nor is it practical to do this. They could take their money and start being selective in where they spend it. Instead of just taking their money out of these industries all together, they could find out who does include black models in their ads and runway shows and buy specifically from them and let it be known that they are buying from them for that reason (in addition to liking the clothes, of course). Black women could let the advertisers of certain shows know that they will not buy their products because they do not have any female minorities on the shows they are advertising with. Record producers and companies need to know that black women are not buying certain kinds of music, whatever the form is, if it is demeaning to women. These companies not only need to know when they are not being supported but also when they are.
Although putting these plans into action would be powerful, perhaps the most powerful of all would be taking that money and doing two things: 1) Creating opportunities for black women to write their own films, produce their own TV shows and music and own their own fashion houses and 2) financially supporting the black women who are already doing these things. This would make such a difference in the image of black women in the media and society. This could only serve to help black women personally with relationships and their careers. If more and more positive images of black women are being put out into the universe then the positive energy will come back to black women tenfold.
Keep in mind that this plan is not an overnight plan but one that can be implemented if the word is put out to other black women who are also concerned with either the lack of images of themselves or the negative images that are already out there of black women. Anything is possible if we truly believe in the power of positive thinking. Once the money trial is followed, black women can really start to take action and make significant changes in their image.
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