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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10 Comments to “Whitening Skin Creams and the “Lighter is Better” Ideology”
mightymin wrote:
Where can I get some of that in the US?
Posted on 10-Sep-09 at 4:04 pm | Permalink
csc3 wrote:
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.
Posted on 10-Sep-09 at 8:50 pm | Permalink
jeffat8asians wrote:
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 KA HREF=”http://www.8asians.com/author/stkyrice/”>Efren's post What is Beauty. He points out that it is probably too simple to pin colorism totally on colonialism.
Posted on 10-Sep-09 at 9:24 pm | Permalink
gthro123 wrote:
that's so true, isn't it? it's just a shame dark-skinned people would do that to their skin…
Posted on 10-Sep-09 at 11:41 pm | Permalink
catherine_sr wrote:
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.
Posted on 11-Sep-09 at 11:48 am | Permalink
Dan W wrote:
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.
Posted on 11-Sep-09 at 12:43 pm | Permalink
jchaburquez wrote:
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.
Posted on 13-Sep-09 at 2:54 am | Permalink
facebook-13617324 wrote:
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?
Posted on 17-Sep-09 at 7:18 pm | Permalink
Linda Chan wrote:
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.
Posted on 18-Sep-09 at 9:58 am | Permalink
Linda Chan wrote:
I noticed it…and him being super-famous makes this even more alarming.
Posted on 18-Sep-09 at 10:01 am | Permalink
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