#TheDarkestShade: Exploring Skin Tone Labor and the Role of Colorism in the Cultural Messaging Around Black Beauty Influencers

Abstract

Black beauty influencers are a part of the growing number of internet users, from marginalized communities that are using social media and other digital platforms to reshape industries that have historically discriminated against them. Black women are typically perceived as existing outside of hegemonic notions of desirability–thus their production of visual content in the digital beauty genre is a resistance strategy to the negative narratives often attached to definitions of Black womanhood. This study is a mixed-methods examination of the ways that Black women have used discourse to reshape the beauty industry–all while combating skin tone prejudice, or colorism. Colorism is a phenomenon in our society that privileges those with lighter skin tones, as they are perceived as being closer to the societal standards of Whiteness. Prior research also notes that darker skinned Black Americans receive less income and have worse health outcomes in comparison to lighter skinned Black Americans. The research on influencers in the digital beauty sphere notes that racism generally is present within this space and contributes to marginalization within the wider social media influencer industry. This project centers colorism as the premier element which shapes Black women’s contributions to beauty discourse, their labor requirements as influencers, and the way they are perceived by other consumers of digital beauty content. Study one uses discourse analysis through a case study on Jackie Aina–arguably the world’s most popular Black beauty influencer–to interrogate how Black beauty influencers and conversations about colorism are framed within mainstream beauty magazines. I find that Jackie Aina and other Black women in this genre are often praised for their vocality and centered as experts. However, they must still contend with sinister forces, such as White celebrity privilege and algorithmic marginalization. This study reveals that although Black women’s discursive labor has reshaped the beauty industry, White hegemonic voices are still the purveyors of conversation and largely shape the narrative framing around Black beauty influencers and their work in the beauty sphere. Study two uses survey experiment methodology to explore if skin tone impacts perceptions of attractiveness and competence among viewers of digital beauty content. This study surveyed African Americans (N=576), primarily Black women (n=524), finding that beauty influencers with darker skin tones are rated as less attractive and less competent. Participants also revealed that they would be less likely to click on the videos of dark-skinned beauty influencers in comparison to influencers with light brown and medium brown skin tones, potentially hinting at income discrepancy among Black women influencers. The findings of Study 1 and Study 2 enable me to argue for a theory of Racial Phenotype Labor, asserting that Black influencers are judged by their phenotypes as opposed to their race alone. Therefore, dark-skinned influencers have to engage in skin tone work as an extra added layer of influencer labor, where much of their content revolves around creating acceptance, both aesthetically and materially, for darker skin tones. Overall, this project calls for more research into the ways that colorism operates within the digital beauty sphere and the greater social media influencer industry.