Glamour Girl
Interesting controversy going on at Essence Magazine. The 40-year-old publication, marketed primarily to black women, has just appointed a new Fashion Director. Her name is Ellianna Placas. She’s from Australia. And she’s white.
Though Placas has apparently been working behind the scenes at Essence for the past six months, many readers—and staffers—feel betrayed by the decision, as you can read in this article from the Independent of London.
Essence Editor-in-Chief Angela Burt-Murray has answered the criticisms, outlined in this article from New York Magazine.
The story as told on BlackAmericans.com has so far generated no comment.
Meanwhile, over at CNN, columnist Sophia Nelson weighs in with her opinion.
You can find plenty of discussion of this story all over the web, and I could spend all day linking to the various arguments. But what do you think? Is it a betrayal of its readers for Essence to hire Placas? Should management have promoted a black woman? What are the implications of such a decision?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/30/10 at 02:22 PM
