Late to the party, as usual, but I thought I'd do a quick post on this anyway. I'm not really sure how I feel about the fact that Stila released this palette. Yes, they've done movie tie-ins before (Legally Blonde, Just My Luck, Vanity Fair) but after reading Jill's piece at Feministe on the movie, I don't think Stila should have jumped on the marketing bandwagon with this. In addition to the Stila website, the palette appeared on HSN website as part of a bunch of The Help product tie-ins.
First, some pics:
With flash:
Quote – they really should have used something from the book or movie…does anyone know if this appeared in either?
Anyway, to get back to the feminist angle on this, Jill says, "I’m not sure what to do with the fact that the Home Shopping Network is featuring a collection inspired by The Help…sure, the American south is very beautiful and there’s no reason to demonize every aspect of it, but the marketing of products inspired by the movie (and events on plantations) works not just because those things are aesthetically pleasing but because there’s a romantic attachment to the Antebellum South. And, well, you can’t divorce that white person nostalgia from slavery and segregation. So marketing KitchenAid mixers and gumball-sized faux-pearl necklaces as being 'inspired' by a movie about segregation and racialized domestic work strikes me as… clueless, to be generous." I think this is a really good point and now I feel a bit bad about buying this palette. Especially since, once again, it's uninspired. Sigh.