Adut Akech and other women of colour on being misidentified by magazines

Supermodel Adut Akech is the most recent prominent voice to speak out against being misidentified in print magazines. Australia’s WHO Magazine that is known for celebrity news published a feature on Adut, but the main image they used for the article was model Flavia Lazarus, another model, with her name attached to it.

Adut took to her Instagram to voice her dissatisfaction with the magazine, saying she felt “very disrespected”.

After receiving support from her fellow industry professional including models Duckie Thot and Selena Forrest, designer Prabal Gurung and seasoned model Bethann Hardison, Adut has spoken out again on why she thought it was important to say something publicly.  

Speaking to the Australian Associated Press, Adut says: “Honestly I didn’t care about who was going to agree with it and who was going to disagree because I know that the people that know there is a problem were going to agree with it and that’s what matters to me.”

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Welcoming all the support she has received she says: “We have a lot of work to do and changes need to start happening now. I feel that I have gotten my point across and now it’s time to do the work.”

The magazine and the public relations agency that organised the interview with Adut reportedly apologised for the “administrative error".

In a statement quoted by ABC OPR's says: "The error was administrative and unintentional and we sincerely apologise for this mistake and any upset it has caused to the models involved, and our client the City of Melbourne."

Magazines misidentifying women of colour is unfortunately a repeated offence. Adut’s case follows a constant misnaming of the Crazy Rich Asians cast members and journalist and activist Noor Tagouri.

In January, Vogue featured Noor Tagouri but misidentified as a Pakistani actress named Noor Bukhari. She took to Instagram as well to share her devastation.

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“I have been misrepresented and misidentified MULTIPLE times in media publications - to the point of putting my life in danger. I never, EVER expected this from a publication I respect SO much and have read since I was a child,” says Noor on her Instagram page.

Vogue sadly is a repeat offender in this regard, the publication has been called out by Diet Prada, the Instagram page dedicated to ousting the fashion industry’s indiscretion, and by multiple other social media users.

People magazine was called out for the same offence.

Human errors are understandable and happens to all, well, humans but these incidents of misidentifying people seem to affect black people and other people of colour in at a disproportional rate. Unfortunately, the issue not only in publications abroad, South Africa sees the same problem.

And as Adut says, we have work to do.

Have you ever been misidentified on any document? Tell us your story here.

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