Brown haired white kids never in photos

[StevieChicks]

Just that really.
Seen the new school prospectus. Beautiful blond children everywhere, front cover and throughout, a few mixed race children, fewer black and Asian students (because racism) but without a doubt the least photographed children are kids like mine. Children with naturally brown, mousey or dark brown hair.
It's not the same as racism and I would not for a second think that this trivial matter is in any way similar to other discourses around representation. And maybe I have a chip on my shoulder from the eighties when I was never a Disney princess and had to be the evil witch. It doesn't feel like much has changed.
My son's hair is thick and dark brown/ black. He has very pale skin. I just don't see this as the desired aesthetic. The world still goes mad for blonde children.

I looked at my nephew's primary school website and the majority on there are asian and black. It just depends on the area/demographic.

Just like when I was at school back in the 90s and the photographer from the local paper came into the classroom and picked all the blonde attractive kids for the photo about a new IT suite 🤣

I think they go for what they think ticks the most boxes. White kid? Great, go full blonde, blue eyes, give her a hockey stick. Don't forget the mouthguard. Asian kid? Great, slap some glasses on there and put them in front of a little lectern. Black kid? Give him a Bunsen burner and goggles. Where's the disabled kid? Can we get a red haired one? And we need something for the Chinese market.

Ordinary looking white kid with brown hair isn't a demographic as such.

I was always the Angel Gabriel in school nativities and never allowed to be Mary because she apparently had brown hair 😂😂😂

I think you have confirmation bias based on a small sample size. Also, often white kids start blonde then get darker hair as they get older. If schools or anyone have to make sure every.single.demographic is included in everything, that's quite tough!

@Fizzyjuice i was a ginger and photographed rarely! I think ginger is never much fun at school. And just when you start enjoying your hair it starts going brown. Life is harsh 🙃

Just clicked on second page and a whole range of races and hair colours, some with glasses and a main pic for a sub link of a boy in glasses and braces with a lovely big smile. Either OP is over sensitive or her kids school specifically only likes blonde kids!

I have no intention of raising this with the school, that would be ridiculous.

This is one of the most bonkers threads I have ever read on MN !

Everyone’s child is beautiful.

To be fair, I am blonde and as a child in the 90’s I was always picked for the brochure 😬 I was in it about 5 years in a row! Sorry to brag but it’s one of my greatest achievement's 🤣
I'm sure brown haired children were equally represented though…

I am a graphic designer that has done a lot of school marketing collateral including many a prospectus, and I can categorically say that I have never chosen to nor been directed to use predominantly blond children. Admittedly there has been some direction to use mixed race / black / Asian children to suggest diversity but never ever have blond children been chosen due to their hair colour. I will pick photos based on a number of things: clarity, composition, overall aesthetic (as in background etc), suitability (smart enough etc), facial expression, and yes if the child is photogenic that helps too. But hair colour? Nah.

To be honest they probably pick the ones who are going to behave sensibly for the camera.

is it a prep school

was a running joke when ds started girls blonde blue eyes boys mixed race and looked like that were in a Boden advert

As a parent of brown haired mixed race kids o can’t say I’ve ever given it a second thought as to whether they are represented in a school prospectus. I would suggest it might be helpful to recognise that you need to get a grip. Enjoy your children and the fact you clearly have very little in life to worry over!

@Fizzyjuice one of the photographers I work with has a preference for redheads because their bright, lustrous hair contrasts and photographs so damn well. So actually you’ve got me thinking that despite my above post, the op could have a point re hair colour preference.

Maybe there's 'fewer' black and Asian kids in the prospectus because there are fewer black and Asian kids at the school? So proportionality wise that's why? Why do people always default to racism . It's weird and condescending.

My DD's school website has children of all weights and hair colours, and I wouldn't say they seem to have been selected for being especially beautiful, just ordinary looking children doing interesting activities. There are a pair of SE Asian identical twins who are featured quite prominently but I can't really blame the school/photographer for that considering they are probably the only non-white children in a very white area and they are also adorable.

As for the two local private schools, one features all hair colours but they definitely try to get one of the very few non-white kids in most shots, and one has around 12 children per year so I'd say nearly all the children are on the website. That one is surprisingly diverse for the area actually.

I've never noticed it's usually a mixture of all I'm sure they choose the most photogenic and natural in front of the camera. My DD went to a SEN school there was a few pictures of her on the website. They don't have a school prospectus. Because children have to be referred there by the department for education. We don't really have much say in what school they go to.

Yeah. Almost as ridiculous as thinking your demographic is deliberately excluded.

When I produced a school prospectus I just looked for children doing something interesting/purposeful/fun
Their features/colouring didn't come into it

And btw both my children have mousy blonde hair. DS left before they posted pictures of children online.

I just checked our school website and found the following numbers. Broken down it looks like a fair representation of our school. If anything brown hair kids are a little over represented.

African 7
Indigenous 14
Asian 13
Indian 9
Maori 2
Caucasian w brown hair 15
Caucasian w blonde hair 7
Caucasian w red hair 1

I did notice that throughout my kids' nursery and primary school years, all nativity Marys had long blonde hair. All of them. I don't think it was deliberate, but I do think the teachers thought "hmm Mary = pick the most sweet and innocent looking girl" and that unconsciously means long blonde hair. To their credit, one year a girl with a prominent facial mark was chosen as Mary and I know they were making an effort to be more thoughtful and not exclude her. But she still had long blonde hair!

It's one of those things people don't realise they're doing IMO. When they try to be inclusive and diverse. people often try to include people they think of as minority or excluded. They don't think "just include everyone".

My DD is in the photo that is used on the school website/ in comms. 5 kids:
2 Black
2 Asian (one with a headscarf)
1 White with light brown hair

I was Mary one year. I have mousy brown hair.
In another play the character of "Dutch Mother" was played by a boy and when we did Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat Joseph (plus about half of the brothers) and Pharaoh were played by girls.