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Posted by: Roger (66.108.246.108) on September 20, 2003 at 09:31:37

Location: NYC

In Reply to: NYC local: Give me some decent advice... posted by Marla on September 19, 2003 at 21:02:27:

Let me give you some numbers, derived from analysis of over 3,000 castings, that may put your comments in context:

: I'm 5'3"

Even though commercial modeling doesn't have the stringent height requirements fashion modeling does, being taller than average helps quite a bit. (Put another way, being shorter than average hurts quite a bit.) Specifically for Hispanic women, about 72% of all those who actually get hired for national ads are over 5'6" tall. And the percentages go down quickly the farther you are below 5'6". The only exception to the "taller is better" rule is Asians; for Asian women 80% of those who appear in national ads are under 5'6", and under 5'3" is not uncommon.

: Given the rising interest in anything Hispanic, I believe this is the time to exploit my ethnicity

That's probably true to some extent, but let's look at the whole picture.

In fashion modeling ethnic minorities seem to have less opportunities than others. But that's not true in commercial modeling. All the major ethnic minorities are over-represented in national commercial print advertising. (That is, they appear more often than their distribution in the US general population would suggest).

There are fewer Hispanic models in the marketplace than there are Caucasians, but that is counterbalanced by the fact that there are fewer jobs for them.

Hispanics are used about 16% of the time, which compares favorably to the (roughly, since "Hispanic" seems difficult for demographers to define) 13% that they represent in the US general population. Still, look at what that means: 84% of all commercial print modeling jobs are NOT for hispanic models.

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Comments:
: Let me give you some numbers, derived from analysis of over 3,000 castings, that may put your comments in context:

: : I'm 5'3"

: Even though commercial modeling doesn't have the stringent height requirements fashion modeling does, being taller than average helps quite a bit.  (Put another way, being shorter than average hurts quite a bit.)  Specifically for Hispanic women, about 72% of all those who actually get hired for national ads are over <b>5'6"</b> tall.  And the percentages go down quickly the farther you are below 5'6".  The only exception to the "taller is better" rule is Asians; for Asian women 80% of those who appear in national ads are under 5'6", and under 5'3" is not uncommon.

: : Given the rising interest in anything Hispanic, I believe this is the time to exploit my ethnicity 

: That's probably true to some extent, but let's look at the whole picture.

: In fashion modeling ethnic minorities seem to have less opportunities than others.  But that's not true in commercial modeling.  All the major ethnic minorities are over-represented in national commercial print advertising.  (That is, they appear more often than their distribution in the US general population would suggest).

: There are fewer Hispanic models in the marketplace than there are Caucasians, but that is counterbalanced by the fact that there are fewer jobs for them.

: Hispanics are used about 16% of the time, which compares favorably to the (roughly, since "Hispanic" seems difficult for demographers to define) 13% that they represent in the US general population.  Still, look at what that means:  84% of all commercial print modeling jobs are NOT for hispanic models.


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