Whitening Skin Creams and the “Lighter is Better” Ideology

By Linda | Thursday, September 10, 2009 | 15 Comments

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In Pakistan and India, there is a new TV ad featuring a dark-skinned man talking to a light-skinned man. The dark-skinned man proclaims he is unlucky because of his face, and the light-skinned man says it’s not his face, it’s the color of his face. Then he gives the dark-skinned man a whitening cream called “Fair and Handsome” that will make his face lighter.

Wow.

We have all heard (and probably seen firsthand) how lighter skin is preferred, not just in South Asia and America, but in many other parts of the world. Maybe I’m just naive, but it saddens me that this concept of “lighter is better” is being blatantly and unapologetically being marketed to the masses. It’s one thing to cast all light-skinned models for a campaign. It’s another thing to say right out, “Here’s a cream that will make your skin lighter because dark skin totally sucks.” Here’s another ad from the same company, Emami, promoting its “Fair and Handsome” skin lightening cream.

What are your thoughts on this? Has anyone else heard of this product, or similar ones?

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mightymin

Where can I get some of that in the US?
csc3

it’s not just south asia btw. east & southeast asia also suffer from the same syndrome.

but yeah, dark-skinned people can’t get enough of this cream, while light-skinned people are obsessed with tanning. you always want what you can’t have, i guess.
http://www.8asians.com/author/ancientone95131/ jeffat8asians

Yes, as csc3 points out, this is not just with South Asians. My wife mentioned that there is product called Ly-Na Pearl facial cream that is a whitener in the Philippines. I too find colorism troubling. There was a good discussion about the lightness bias in Efren‘s post What is Beauty. He points out that it is probably too simple to pin colorism totally on colonialism.
gthro123

that’s so true, isn’t it? it’s just a shame dark-skinned people would do that to their skin…
http://shuflies.blogspot.com catherine_sr

I live in Taiwan, and whitening creams are HUGELY popular here and in the rest of East Asia (a lot of the products are imported from Japan). You can buy them in 7-11!

I’m not sure what drives the desire for lighter skin in South Asia, but here in East Asia it seems to be a matter of classism, not racism. People don’t want to look like white people — they want to look like they have the luxury of being able to stay out of the sun and maintain pearly, smooth, soft skin. After all, Taiwan (like many other Asian countries) was an agricultural economy until just a few decades ago. Bronzers are still relatively rare here, but they are beginning to increase in popularity. This summer, I saw bronzing powders featured in all the major Taiwanese fashion rags, with captions promising that they’d give users a “relaxed, summer-y glow.”

I often hear comments that Asian people want whiter skin, bleached and permed hair, or colored contacts because they want to look ethnically white. Having lived here for two years, I honestly don’t think that’s true. Whiter skin and bleached and permed hair shows that you have the time and money for expensive beauty procedures, while colored contacts are a novelty thing for the most part. I do find, however, the classism inherent in the valuation of white skin just as disturbing as racism.
http://twitter.com/Agnostic1984 Dan W

I’ve read that part of the reason for the light skin obsession is related to our reproduction desires. Both males and females will be attracted to partners who appear to be the most beneficial for their offspring. A lot of times, the females will be a little “bigger” than the males. Sometimes, lighter complexion makes the body appear to be “bigger” than what it is. Due to that attraction, overtime, light skin became more desire.

Don’t take my comment too serious, I only believed half of what I read and I also think the light skin craze in Asia has more to do with class, and in some cases, just a little hint of colonial legacy/media influence depending on which society.

Sometimes classism is just as worst as racism (this might look a little weird to North Americans, but matters quite a bit to many others around the world). However, I think that attitude isn’t going away compared with racism, for several obvious reasons. The terminology and standards might change but the basic meaning won’t.
http://xanga.com/pinoylumpia jchaburquez

This is kind of “lighter is better” mentality is really prevalent among Filipinos. I mean, you can see it among the Philippine media but it’s also really noticeable here in America among the second generation born here. At least in the Philippines, you’ll always see that all the Filipino celebrities are all super light skinned… well, except for the actors that are there for comedic effect. Those actors are darker. In the Philippines they are taught that lighter skinned, really is better. If you look at the poorer female youth, you’ll see them tend to put more powder on their faces below their makeup so that their faces are much lighter than their necks, so that they look ‘higher class’ because of their lighter skin.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=13617324 facebook-13617324

I always thought it was a class thing, because lighter skin meant you didn’t have to stay out in the sun farming or whatever. I like being nice and tan though. The healthy glow look always seemed more attractive to me than sickly and pasty.

…did anyone else notice that Shah Rukh Khan is the spokesperson in that last commercial?
http://www.facebook.com/people/Linda-Chan/5501043 Linda Chan

That’s fascinating Dan, what you wrote about females being attracted to lighter-skinned males because they appear bigger. I have never even thought of that. But yes, it’s always good to take these studies/theories w/ a grain of salt.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Linda-Chan/5501043 Linda Chan

I noticed it…and him being super-famous makes this even more alarming.
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robert559

Skin whitening is the defacto standard in all of Asia, especially Japan and China. Mind you, ‘white’ in this case is not the same as Caucasian. Supposedly (at least Asians I know who defend the products) Say it gives you a “brighter” appearance.

I don’t know about India, but living in Singapore (which have a huge local and non local Indian population) has taught me that Asians in generally also prefer light skin. People have told me very directly (mostly Chinese singaporeans) that they would never date an Indian unless they were the very light skinned ones. When I told them I think dark skinned Indian women are absolutely beautiful, they all look at me as if I am from another planet.

This isn’t racism. It’s the light skin bias.
davelio

This is quite common. there are many commercials for products like this all throughout the middle east and India.There are many Chinese who do not like to be tanned as well. I believe this is a deeply ingrained cultural practice associated with ancient caste systems. Right now, there is a generational paradigm shift underway, and your questioning of the validity of these practices is indicative of that. Cheers!
http://twitter.com/Luv4theGame Philip

Skin lightening or Bleaching is also happening in the US, amongst African-American females.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/alltherage/2008/08/black-women-and.html
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