Dis-Chem blames bad cosmetics for blackface dummy
‘We should not have put make-up on her’
The manager of a Dis-Chem store at the centre of blackface debacle says they did not “intend to make a mockery of anybody”.
Tarryl Moonsamy, the manager of DisChem store in Killarney Mall, Johannesburg, which received a backlash for painting the face of a mannequin black as part of the annual “beauty fair”, said they should have not put any make-up on the mannequin whatsoever.
Moonsamy was speaking to Talk Radio 702 yesterday where she said the issue was a case where make-up was used distastefully. The photograph of the mannequin painted on with blackface went viral on social media on Friday and sparked outrage.
In an the interview with Sowetan, Jan Opperman from the store initially said the display was a directive given from Dis-Chem’s head offices.
Yesterday, when asked whether she believed it was blackface, Moonsamy said: “The whole term blackface and the meaning behind it is completely different to what had actually happened.”
When asked to define what blackface means by 702 host Eusebius McKaiser, Moonsamy said: “It goes back to the event where people paint their faces and make a mockery of people and that is definitely not what we intended to do.
We did not intend to make a mockery of anybody.”
Moonsamy said the unnamed staff member used the mannequin she brought from home as part of props to embrace her own “African culture”.
“I immediately removed it because to me it looked wrong in every way possible,” said Moonsamy. “The make-up job was definitely done wrong. We should not have put any make-up on the mannequin whatsoever.”
When questioned on the issue of why black mannequins were not used, Moonsamy said that mannequins are not permitted at Dis-Chem stores.
“The staff member that put on the make-up, she brought her own mannequin [from her home] and she went on with her display,” she added. “She brought it as a prop to create a theme that she wanted So, what has happened since the incident is, we have had the MB and the CEO [come] in. We have had deep conversations with [them] and we have made a decision that such things will never happen again in terms of display and representation because that is not what Dis-Chem as a brand stands for.”
The make-up job on the mannequin was done wrong