Is "Chocolate" In Style, Thanks to the Obamas?

Friday, February 6, 2009

Is "chocolate" in style, thanks to the Obamas? By "chocolate," I mean "African American"/"black" - and yes, I actually do think that the Obamas have on some level triggered some sort of consciousness on Madison Avenue about the marketability of selling "chocolate" to the masses, which became incredibly clear when companies started capitalizing on the Obama victory, selling all sorts of Obama paraphernalia (from collectible plates to Obama Chia pets to mini dolls that look like Malia and Sasha). Tyra Banks is also another chocolate commodity in her own right, selling herself through her own self-created brand of all things modelicious and girl-power-esque. Oprah has always been a marketable entity - similar to King Midas, anything she touches or breathes on seems to turn to gold. And now Raven Simone, a multi-millionaire in her own right, has shown to be a remarkable phenomenon with her television show and all of her Raven Simone-related products on the market. And let's not even get into the fact that Beyonce can sell pretty much anything.

Now, this is a pretty small list of "blacks in style" in this country that have quite a bit of power when it comes to the marketability of their images. However, their prominence in the media seems to suggest an increasing acceptance of chocolate into mainstream American culture, no longer something confined to the auspices of BET and Essence Magazine. Perhaps chocolate will lose its "otherness" and perhaps be more popularly considered an intriguing segment of American culture, something to be celebrated, rather than analyzed or critiqued by the likes of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh (shudder).

If chocolate is back in style, I more than welcome it. It's about time that the media revamp its image of blacks in the media and realize that black Americans are a diverse and culturally complex group of individuals that have incredible power in the marketplace. Beauty companies were foolish to ignore the purchasing power of black women, for example, only recently tailoring their products (e.g. makeup, hair items) to fit the needs of black women. However, the fashion world is still behind the times, still struggling to hire black models and put them on the runway, despite outcries by prominent designers and even Vogue through the Black Italian Vogue magazine issue that sold like hotcakes off the stands (and are now selling for hundreds of dollars on Ebay). However, I do believe that the fashion industry will follow suit with realizing the marketability and beauty of chocolate, incorporating its unique and diverse attributes into its conceptualization of the American market. This nation is becoming increasingly diverse, and more and more companies are realizing that they are missing out on profits by leaving chocolate out. And in a country where the power of the dollar appears to dictate decisions in boardroom discussions, leaving chocolate out of the mix will only result in a pretty bland and boring taste of the "same ol' same" and leave people yearning for a more encompassing product market.