Fun With Press Releases: Because sometimes, the beauty industry just goofs.
You know how Beauty U is always talking about how recession-proof the beauty industry is, and how we’re going to have such great post-graduation job prospects? (All the while encouraging students to take out loans, go into credit card debt, or qualify for financial aid to pay their tuition?)
Well, I don’t want you to think that I’m attending some kind of beauty school anomaly. Check out the press release below (from one of the biggest beauty school chains in the country) to see how this kind of sales pitch has become the industry’s party line.
From: XXXXXX
Sent: Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 2:14 PM
Subject: Brooklyn Job Seekers Invited to Learn about Career Possibilities at Local Cosmetology SchoolMarch 9, 2010
**************************MEDIA ADVISORY**************************
XXXX BEAUTY SCHOOL COUNTS DOWN to
the OPENING of its 100th SCHOOL
WHAT: Nation’s Largest Cosmetology School System Celebrates Countdown to 100th School with Brooklyn Open House
XXXX Beauty Schools is celebrating “100 Days of XXXX,” a commemoration leading up to the opening of its 100th school, and aspiring cosmetologists in Brooklyn will be welcomed into their local XXXX Beauty School on March 18th for a special open house.
They will have the chance to meet educators, learn more about XXXX’s unique curriculum, view classrooms and the student salon and even get a chance for some real hands-on cosmetology experience to see if it may be the right career path for them.
Free manicures, haircuts, door prizes, student competitions and hands-on interaction for prospective students combine to promise a great photo opportunity.
Other highlights:
• As part of the school’s domestic violence charitable initiative, XXXX Gives Back, a check presentation for $549.15 will be made to XXXX, a local women’s shelter, from funds raised by students in Brooklyn.
• XXXX is also donating $100 a day to 100 local domestic violence shelters across the country that it supports (including XXXX), in addition to the nearly $200K that students have already raised this year nationwide.
WHY: Consider these figures:
• The unemployment rate in New York City has risen to 10.6 percent.
• According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the field of cosmetology is projected to grow 20 percent between 2008 and 2018.
• There are over 23,741 salons in New York, each one offering flexible and promising job opportunities to the state’s licensed cosmetologists.
- XXXX Beauty School offers the quality education, hands-on training and networking opportunities needed to succeed in the beauty industry.
- The scandal embroiling NY’s governor is only one example of how pervasive the problem of domestic violence is and how many women (1 in 4, specifically) are affected by it. A cosmetology career is a path to financial independence for many victims who stay in abusive relationships because of economic necessity. XXXX offers an endowment to help fund a cosmetology education for abuse victims who need a lifeline for a fresh start.
WHERE: March 18, 2010, 12-4 p.m.
XXXXX Beauty School in Brooklyn
XXX-XXX-XXXX
# # #
Let’s not try do the math on XXXX Beauty School’s daily profit versus the $100 daily donation to stop domestic violence.
Of course, of course, I’m all for supporting abuse victims. But to give you a little context, XXXX school issued this press release the very same week Beyonce was making headlines for opening her own Cosmetology Center — inside a Brooklyn residential substance abuse and recovery house. Competition, much?
Props to Beyonce, who has committed to giving the school/recovery house $100,000 per year.
Not so sure about this whole concept of beauty school as the life-saving step that drug addicts and abuse victims need to take to get control of their lives. Is $8 an hour sweeping hair clippings, or even $15 an hour waxing pubic hair going to be enough to do that?
