Color Carne is not just a color

What color is the flesh color? This is an apparently simple question that instead opens up an important conversation related to skin color and respect for the many differences that exist. Starting from the definition written in the most important dictionaries, the only answer is "It is a beige, pink, "similar to the color of human flesh", but is the color of human flesh only pink? This is the first question asked by Giuditta Rossi, a black strategist, and Cristina Maurelli, a white storyteller, who work together for Bold Stories, a strategy consulting firm.

The "Color Flesh" advocacy campaign wants to change the color of flesh color by making it from pink to all the colors of humanity, to make this world a place of cross-cutting rights that does not include some while excluding others. The founders of this project, during a banal conversation, thought to turn the light on the absurdity of the meaning attached to this term and the narrative created around it by taking action.

"The idea of describing flesh color as pink assumes, often unconsciously, that a white person's skin is the norm but for us flesh color is not just one color, it is all the colors of humanity."

All you need to do to join the campaign is to go to colorcarne.it or Color Carne Project's social channels and pick one of the original cards, depicting people with different skin tones that exemplify how flesh color is not just one color, to share directly with the hashtag #colorcarne, ready-made with message, images and graphics. The entirely dedicated site is complete with all the information with an interesting "colorimeter" with the colors of humanity and case studies and tools showing how this issue is being addressed in the world and in different sectors: from publishing to products and art projects. Also within the site are videos explaining the happenings of these two months of the campaign and the "Press Review" page containing a truly amazing press review: so many newspapers, blogs, influencers, for-profit and nonprofit entities chronicle this journey of equality.

"We work together for Bold Stories, a strategy consulting firm that helps companies, organizations and institutions find their identity and, through authentic storytelling, establish winning strategies. Our consulting uses the proprietary model that proposes storytelling strategies and the power of stories as tools to achieve business goals, design and substantiate change."

It is important for a brand to have a purpose, a purpose, and, again, it is important that we understand how fundamental values such as diversity, inclusion, and sustainability are within a company. This campaign has become a way to contribute to the change that its creators would like to see in the world, deeming it in effect a very BOLD idea. 

"We are very pleased with the results: Garzanti has changed the definition of the term "flesh-colored" on its online dictionary, waiting to do so on the forthcoming print one as well. Internazionale has done the same with its online dictionary while Devoto-Oli and Zanichelli have promised that they will do so. At last, even in Italy defining flesh color as only pink or beige is now discriminatory and not representative of all skin colors of every person. The colorcarne.it website currently ranks first in searches for the term, and by typing "color carne" into Google, the campaign cards master the image search."

Color Carne is meant to be a demonstration of how concepts that seem harmless, particularly in language and visual representations, can instead hide distortions, prejudices and stereotypes. It is an invitation to challenge the standard, to ask ourselves questions and, if that standard does not match us, to take action to build a society in which diversity is valued and in which each person is able to recognize himself or herself. Words are certainly important because they create reality, they define it, and in this case discrimination is about skin color but the same concepts apply, without a shadow of a doubt, to all underrepresented categories. 

"Things are changing even if slowly and not everywhere. The beauty industry is, for example, an average industry that is more attentive to issues of diversity and inclusion, but there is still a long way to go. The expressions nude and natural are not inclusive because currently they still refer to pink and beige colors related to the skin of white people."

Among the new goals that this project proposes, also in view of the results so far, is to take this campaign around Europe because this expression is present in many other languages. Meanwhile, Giuditta and Cristina have entered schools through dedicated workshops and laboratories.

"Diversity and inclusion are crucial for us in the development of a society that becomes more just and happier."