Here is a letter that I sent to Current Catalog about diversity in capitalism. (No word back yet, despite an alleged 48-hour reply time… But I can wait!)
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To: Current Order Processing Center, Colorado Springs, CO 80941-0001
Sent: 3 April 2017
Dear Current Catalog,
I am a longtime fan of Current items. My mom got stickers from your catalog when I was a kid, and I’ve been doing the same for my little one. (They are great entertainment for airplane rides!) However, I would like to bring an item to your attention that I think would help you sell stickers and holiday ornaments to a broader consumer base.
I recently purchased the “Happy Family Shipping Labels” because I thought that the images were of a very cute black-and-white cartoon family. When the stickers arrived, I realized that the family is lightly colored, a fact that I hadn’t noticed while looking at the computer screen while ordering the labels. Since my family is not actually the color of the family on the stickers, my husband was quite put out and set our son to re-coloring the faces with crayons. [Addendum: The Happy Family Shipping Labels do not appear to be available on the website anymore as of 17 April 2017.]
Current Catalog, “Happy Family” face (zoom).
This reminded me of last Christmas, when I was trying to order a personalized family ornament from Current Catalog but was unable to find an option for non-white family members. For example, the Snuggle Up Hand-Lettered Resin Ornament, Blended Family Ornament, Shovel Family Ornament, Christmas Tree House Ornament, Caroler Family Hand-Lettered Resin Ornament, Snowball Fight Ornament, and Personalized Lamp Post Ornament are only available with white faces. This leaves us with the option of moose, owls, gingerbread, snowmen, or stockings, but it would be great to see more inclusivity and diversity of options in the colors of the figures on your ornaments and labels.
Current Catalog, personalized family ornaments (samples)
We ran into the same problem years ago when trying to order a mixed couple topper for our wedding cake, so we chose to go without one, but it’s 2017 and we would really be happy to see more representation of the variety of family forms (and colors!) in your items available for purchase.
That’s what a Google image search for “wedding cake topper” gets you — cis, hetero, etc. wypipo.
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Endnote: I know that Current Catalog falls definitively into the category of “stuff white people like,” but I still thought it was worth a shot.
Carto-Caricatures: Cartographic Caricatures 