The Ethnic Internet Model Dream

Who is a model?

“A model is a person who acts as a human prop for purposes of art, fashion, advertising, pornography, etc.”

In a world where mass media controls the populace, models have stood the test of time, some glorified others ignored. The 21^st century has dawned a new era for models, an era of the internet.

The models that I am talking about are female Ethnic (Black, Latino, Asian, Mixed) models. Where is their place in the industry? And how are they making progress?

Ethnic models have exploded in mass media advertising over the past 10 years, from music videos, to the catwalks; ethnic models are now earning their share of the wealth in the industry. Popular culture has literally shaped the mindset of our present generation with the proliferation of Holly Wood box office movies, Hip Hop, R & B, Reggae and Urban fashion; leading to this burst of mass media madness. The Civil rights movements have lead to more opportunity for ethnic people and have increased their entrepreneurial capabilities. There are richer ethnic producers and also a richer ethnic populace; ethnic people are now a target for large corporations that were once fixed on a Eurocentric marketing model.

These corporations have to please and entice their audience to consume its products for increased profits; their marketing departments are constantly on the edge in finding new ways of appealing to the populace. Advertisement and modelling agencies usually come into play. These Organizations recruit hundreds of thousands of talented individuals, creating a melting pot of talent in mostly urban communities.

The Ethnic Internet Model Dream is a story that has neither beginning nor any end. It tells the tales of thousands of young beautiful women vying for an opportunity of economic redemption and identity. They all want to be rich and famous, living a lifestyle that is somewhat fairytale. But when there is no opportunity for your look, there are limited amount of recruiters, what are they to do? Take the bull by the horn and venture into the world of internet modeling.

The Internet has over 700,000 people globally connected. It is the largest advertising medium next to cable television. A single website can command an audience, attract recruiters and build a fan base.

The most popular type of Internet Modeling is pornography, it pays the highest and it commands the highest sales for the Internet. This type of production has attracted a lot of ethnic models in hot pursuit of the “Ethnic Internet Model Dream”.

Another type of Modeling is the proliferation of Glamour photography; “Glamour photography is the photographing of a model (nowadays usually female, often nude or semi-nude), in a way that is intended to be erotic.” It is used as a counter alternative to pornography (which usually proliferate the genitals) and provides more aesthetics in terms of lighting, fashion, and overall physical presentation. There are more ethnic models taking this route and have formed their own websites, some managed by a production company and others self maintained. Their success is determined off their physical assets or their ability to tease their audience. A popular asset for most ethnic models into glamour photography is the so called “Booty”, which men glorify on a daily basis, the so called “Tits” comes second, and other Fetishes such as Panties, Toes, Hair, etc are in third place.

There are other types of internet productions such as Illustration and body portraits which also command a wide audience.

These Ethic models usually gain exposure to these productions via recruitment websites, these websites usually host models’ photos and profile and usually attracts the potential producer to the model (some use it as alternate dating). One of the most popular ethnic model recruitment sites on the Internet is: http://www.blackcuties.com here you will find thousands of professionals and non-professionals vying to become the next big urban star.

There are other websites that do recruitment for the purpose of their own production and models usually get exposed via being promoted commercially (subscription or video sales). These models usually grow in popularity (depending on the influence of the production company) and are usually given opportunity by traditional corporate entities such as Magazines, Modelling or Advertisement agencies.

For some the “Ethnic Internet Model Dream” is an impossible task, for others it’s a path of hope that leaves an open door of many possibilities.