Support NeoGAF

[Eylos]

"A Nivea advert that features a black woman using the company’s product with the tagline ‘visibly lightens’ has been branded “racist”.

Social media users have called the advert, which has appeared in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Senegal, “racist” and “colourist” and urged that it be taken down.

"Former Miss Nigeria Omowunmi Akinnifesi appears in the advert for the moisturising lotion, “Natural Fairness”, and in the video version she says that “visibly fairer skin” makes her feel younger. Her skin appears to lighten as she applies it.(...)"

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/b...isturiser-social-media-reaction-a8009141.html

 

[jcutner]

and Nivea gets the hat trick!

 

[Khalifa Jayy]

They're doing this on purpose. Nivea is consistently caught up in this.

 

[collige]

I expected India when I first saw the pic since there's enough history behind this type of bullshit there for it to fly. But West Africa? Nivea gotta be out of their minds.

 

[HazySaiyan]

Shows how ingrained this racist bullshit is when cosmetic companies still do it after so many controversies.

 

[Fulminator]

You'd think that these companies would learn

Guess not

 

[Rocketz]

Who runs their marketing team and approves all this?

 

[LilWayneSuckz]

Ugh.

Nivea will remain cancelled.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Fuck Nivea

 

[benicillin]

One can only assume they do this on purpose.

 

[ItIsOkBro]

it's racist, but it's about as racist as the product it's promoting.

 

[shadow_shogun]

I expected India when I first saw the pic since there's enough history behind this type of bullshit there for it to fly. But West Africa? Nivea gotta be out of their minds.

Unfortunately bleaching of the skin is very common (but frowned upon) practise in Nigeria, so there's certainly a market for this particular product in that area.

 

[BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO]

it's racist, but it's about as racist as the product it's promoting.

So, extremely racist?

 

[Jonnax]

"Natural Fairness"
Totally a racist company.

 

[Ragnorok64]

I thought skin lightening products were actually oddly popular in locations where people have naturally darker skin. I remember hearing they're popular in parts of India, Africa, South East Asia.

 

[Dude Abides]

Nivea don't care.

 

[WonkyPanda]

I’ve heard that “whitening” soap is super popular in south East Asian countries. Wonder if that’s true.

 

[fluffydelusions]

Chinese washing machine ad is still the worst
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDcBFCo8gKU

 

[sakipon]

I wish people would stop buying these creams. These ads and products will not go away until that happens. People say they don't want this but it seems that someone out there does.

 

[PJV3]

Isn't it more of a class thing in Africa and India, the peasants are out in the sun getting dark and wrinkled.

 

[jph139]

it's racist, but it's about as racist as the product it's promoting.

Yeah I'm not sure if there's a non-racist way to advertise skin lightening soap.

Is there a market for this sort of thing in the area? I mean, there must be, right? Why else would the product exist?

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

I may be mistaken, but I thought skin lightening products actually are popular in some parts of Africa, which is where this billboard is? I still find the whole concept bizarre regardless, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I could've sworn I've read about skin bleaching and such being prevalent in certain areas.

 

[jelly]

I know India has the bleaching thing going on. No matter were though it's a rather dodgy message.

There is an element of poor out working all day on the fields or something but I think celebrity culture has got it's hooks right in. I don't know what natural tone some famous people have but it's more likely to be lighter in western culture.

 

[Majmun]

Don't want to sound ignorant. But aren't there also nivea products that give you a fake tan, so make you look darker?

 

[Pluto]

Creams to lighten skin are used in africa, one of my friends is from kenya and she knows a few women who use products like that, there's a market for ot, some people obviously want lighter skin. I assume it's the equivalent if white people turning orange.

 

[Stead Fast]

Ah, so that's what PoC needed all along, a product that let them #revealyourglow? By...shaming your skin colour.

 

[parrotbeak]

it's racist, but it's about as racist as the product it's promoting.

Yo Nivea we heard you like racism so we put racism in your racism so you can be racist while you're racist

 

[Fj0823]

At first I thought that it was just a black woman and the tagline, and was ready to say that it's reaching...

But then I saw the shoulder pic...

Holy shit

 

[DiipuSurotu]

The adjectives used are obviously inappropriate but I'm not against the existence of the product itself. I mean, tanning products are a thing right?

 

[ZackieChan]

I’ve heard that “whitening” soap is super popular in south East Asian countries. Wonder if that’s true.

Nearly every kind of face wash has some "whitening" attributes in Thailand where I'm living. I'm white enough!
It's extremely common.

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

#revealyourglow ?????

Nope. Soul Glo forever.

#revealyoureriqlasalle

 

[Madness]

I expected India when I first saw the pic since there's enough history behind this type of bullshit there for it to fly. But West Africa? Nivea gotta be out of their minds.

What? West Africa has long had issues with colonialism and because of northern africans with fairer skin being considered more beautiful the same thing. This is also evident in Nigeria, Ethiopia etc. The Carribbean, South Asia and large parts of Africa all have issues with 'fair skin', bleaching etc.

 

[dskillzhtown]

I thought skin lightening products were actually oddly popular in locations where people have naturally darker skin. I remember hearing they're popular in parts of India, Africa, South East Asia.

Popular in Jamaica as well from what I have read. This line from the article,

Some Twitter users said Nivea is responding to consumer demand for skin-lightening products.

may tell the truth about why the ad and product exist. There is a demand for such products. If that is the case, should we be discussing the cultural climate that has made this demand a reality?

This is somewhat of playing Devil's Advocate, but if consumers are telling companies they want a lotion to lighten their skin and the companies provide and promote that, then who is at fault? Looking at it through the eyes of a Black person in America, I think the adverts are racist as hell, but if that is what the people in those markets are demanding, so be it.

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

Isn't it more of a class thing in Africa and India, the peasants are out in the sun getting dark and wrinkled.

It's colorism, which yes has some roots in classism, and even more in religion/folklore. Either way, colorism is a huge thing in Africa/Asia/Americas/etc.

Edit: Also this doesn't seem to be a 'whoopies daisy!' moment, as much as a clear unveiled ad targeting regions and people who are knee deep in colorist bullshit. I.E. don't expect an "apology" from Nivea like other times. This is them speaking directly to a market that sadly exists.

 

[shadow_shogun]

Isn't it more of a class thing in Africa and India, the peasants are out in the sun getting dark and wrinkled.

We certainly don't have sort of class system in Nigeria where this product was advertised.

 

[Hashmal_Bringer_of_Order]

Is this really racist? They're catering to an existing (and booming) market.

 

[WonkyPanda]

Nearly every kind of face wash has some "whitening" attributes in Thailand where I'm living. I'm white enough!
It's extremely common.

Yikes. Yeah, that’s the country I remember specifically hearing. Thanks.

 

[4444244]

Apparently Tilda Swinton was unavailable.

 

[MrToughPants]

TIL whitening soap is a thing

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Isn't it more of a class thing in Africa and India, the peasants are out in the sun getting dark and wrinkled.

Yeah. Racist and all, but know your market.

 

[PdotMichael]

I thought skin lightening products were actually oddly popular in locations where people have naturally darker skin. I remember hearing they're popular in parts of India, Africa, South East Asia.

Companies normally don't sell products which don't sell at all. Like trying to buy sunless tanning in India wouldn't be so easy despite being somehow popular in Western countries.

 

[Alienous]

They don't even give a fuck.

This is an awful, dehumanising practice to support.

 

[Ros8105]

How would someone even make an ad for this product that wouldn't offend people?

 

[Rumblebones]

Why the fuck do these cunts keep getting away with this shit? They need to get fined for this bullshit.

 

[kirblar]

I wish people would stop buying these creams. These ads and products will not go away until that happens. People say they don't want this but it seems that someone out there does.

That's the issue in a nutshell. They advertise it because there's a market for it.

Isn't it more of a class thing in Africa and India, the peasants are out in the sun getting dark and wrinkled.

Predjudice against people w/ darker skin is something we've seen all over the world, unfortunately. I'm not sure it's even a class thing as much as the predjudice leads to class divides based on that predjudice.

 

[Joeytj]

Why the fuck do these cunts keep getting away with this shit? They need to get fined for this bullshit.

Because it's actually what too many black Africans still believe.

It's not exactly an unpopular product, which is why they're promoting it in the first place.

It's just like here in Mexico or Latin America in general, there's still a self-hate against darker skin and a belief that "fairer" skin is just better. Even the stupid way of calling white skin "fairer" makes me cringe.

It's the typical oppresive prejudices that linger from colonial times in many parts of the world.

Shame on Nivea for doing nothing to change perceptions that "fairer is better", but this is also a social problem.

 

[Carl]

Don't see any other way to advertise skin lighening products really. They must be something people there want or Nivea wouldn't bother selling it

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

Is this really racist? They're catering to an existing (and booming) market.

And I was honestly going to ask the same thing. It's horrific and colorist propaganda point blank, but it's not like the ad is saying anything about race.

The ad is literally saying, "hey, want lighter skin? put this on!"

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

Is this really racist? They're catering to an existing (and booming) market.

It's the wording. The ad is straight up telling you your dark skin isn't up to standards.

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

This thread is kind of reminding me of an article I read about female genital mutilation (female circumcision) across Africa, where US activists went there to try and stop the practice with the assumption women would want to liberate themselves from patriarchal tradition, only to arrive and realize it was the female elders who kept the tradition in place, and that the extent of the procedure and reason for doing so varied pretty greatly from place to place. The activists had essentially come to these African villages with a very westernized sense of male/female relations only to find that their sensibilities don't necessarily line up neatly when applied to completely different cultures. Nivea is fulfilling a demand here, not creating one. I personally think people should appreciate their natural skin tone, but I suppose this isn't much different to folks in Nigeria than the desire to be tan is for white people in the US- it likely isn't viewed from a perspective of racial superiority, just like white people don't think of tanning in those terms. White people in the US think being tan is better than not being tan, but not in terms that can be applied to race or ethnicity.