Adobe Partners with Creatives of Color to Make More Diverse Stock Photos

Is your stock imagery suffering from a lack of diversity? Adobe has a solution. The company recently teamed up with three stock agencies; TONL, Mocha Stock, and Diversity Photos to help expand their catalog of diverse stock photos and images. This was done in an effort to replace pictures containing harmful stereotypes with depictions of people of color (POC) that are more nuanced and inclusive. Their hope is to amplify these agencies’ collections dedicated to authentically portraying all ethnicities and cultures.

“Photographers see the world in ways that are unique to their own diverse experiences, and those perspectives are incredibly valuable,” Debbie Grossman, manager, strategic business development, Adobe Stock Premium told BLACK ENTERPRISE in a statement. “We focus on sourcing diverse content for two reasons: one, because it realistically depicts the world we live in, and two, because customers demand it. Customers have been asking for diverse content for years, but the content that gets produced doesn’t always speak to both diversity and authenticity. Unfortunately, it tends to be tokenistic. But at Adobe Stock, we care particularly about sourcing content from a diversity of creators who can represent their own communities in more genuine and positive ways.”

When asked why they decided to partner with Adobe, Karen Okonkwo, co-founder of TONL replied that, “access is crucial for imagery to reach everyone. By having our images on Adobe Stock, it allows POC working for various organizations to see a credible outlet hosting our imagery, which will enable more consumers to use our images in their professional work settings and hopefully beyond that.”

The partnership came about when Adobe became familiar with TONL’s work and reached out to them to collaborate. “We valued Adobe’s approach and their level of professionalism and authenticity,” continued Okonkwo. “Additionally, we are users of Adobe’s creative tools, so it seemed like the perfect partnership to embark on.”

Adobe Stock Imagery in partnership with TONL (Image: TONL)

Adobe admitted that sourcing diverse content can be extremely difficult, thus this is why these partnerships came about. “We are lucky in that, in part because of Adobe’s commitment to both diversity and creators, we are able to partner exclusively with diversity-focused stock companies such as Diversity Photos, TONL and Mocha Stock. These are all enterprises which are focused on improving diversity and representation in stock,” said Grossman.

Click here to take a peek at Adobe’s new portfolio of diverse faces.