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[PJV3]

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

Fair enough, it's not as widespread as I thought then. I kind of expect these kind of subtle displays of status to be everywhere.

 

[Dabanton]

Skin lightening products are very popular in Africa so it has a market sadly.

 

[snausagesUK]

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

It is sort of inevitable with this kind of product though.

It's not right but it's how it is

 

[la_briola]

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

You are correct.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Wait

You guys are actually against skin-lightening products? If someone legitimately wants to lighten their skin I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to.

It's the wording in that ad that's wrong, not the product itself.

 

[Majmun]

 

[snausagesUK]

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.

Ethnocentrism or not FGM is horrific.

 

[dskillzhtown]

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.

Interesting point. I would love to hear from someone in the region to provide some insight into the matter. Is it an aesthetic thing or is it a "white is right" thing?

 

[Always-honest]

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.

Yeah i've heard about his too. I don't understand it that much though.
The "fairer" is probably the issue.

 

[Poor GRIMES]

Let’s stop pretending that colorism is not also informed by centuries of White supremacy and colonialsm being exchanged throughout the globe.

 

[Alienous]

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

Yup. "Reveal your glow"

Which roughly translates to "Get that muck off of your body" when converted from diet-racism to just racism.

 

[Ragnorok64]

I don't think this really counts as racist since they are literally marketing their product in an area where there's clear demand. The ad also doesn't directly say that fairer skin is more beautiful or proper, it pretty matter-of-factly states what it does. At least it doesn't do that more than any other beauty product highlights its end result.

 

[Carl]

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

It literally just says it makes your skin lighter though. Nothing about lighter being better

 

[Androidsleeps]

Do these products actually bleach the skin? I always thought they were for treating darks spots, etc

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

Let’s stop pretending that colorism is not also informed by centuries of White supremacy and colonialsm being exchanged throughout the globe.

Who's pretending?

I hope that's not a new talking point that colorism just "always was~" and wasn't pushed suuuper hard during colonization times.

 

[Eylos]

The Company is serving a racist demand and helping It to propagate. If they have some conscious they should take notice that even though people are asking for it, you shoulnt help solidify such culture in a country.

Unless its an ancient tradition in some places, but afaik this exists due to centuries of colonization, and "White beauty supremacy".

 

[GoldenEye 007]

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.

It certainly is possible that a feature of a culture at it's core is defective, though. But yes, understanding the reasons why something exists from their perspective is important and would allow any possible solutions to be better applied than from western understanding.

Why does the culture crap on dark skin? Why is it accepted that women should undergo FGM? Why is it run by women? Same could be asked in the US as it relates to male circumcision and all of our other massive issues with our culture.

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

Ethnocentrism or not FGM is horrific.

I agree, just pointing out that trying to apply a US perspective to non-US issues can sometimes lead to misunderstanding and make finding solutions harder. No African tribe is going to stop FGM because some white westerners who don't even understand the rationale behind it show up and tell them it's wrong. This is off topic, though. The point is to understand the issue from its native perspective rather than applying our foreign perspective onto it.

 

[Kinyou]

Sadly there's an actual demand for products like this. Saw in a news report how a woman had large parts of her skin destroyed because she used some cheap home made stuff.

 

[kirblar]

Let’s stop pretending that colorism is not also informed by centuries of White supremacy and colonialsm being exchanged throughout the globe.

It absolutely is. It's just not exclusive to being descended from those things. (an example being the Caste system in India.)

 

[shadow_shogun]

Interesting point. I would love to hear from someone in the region to provide some insight into the matter. Is it an aesthetic thing or is it a "white is right" thing?

I have cousins and friends that bleach in Nigeria and from their point of view It's certainly more of an aesthetic thing as they believe that being fairer would land them boyfriends or girlfriends or make them more appealing in public.

 

[Onemic]

The ad isnt racist, it's the product.

And unfortunately, there's a market for it.

 

[RinsFury]

I hate that this exists.

 

[Currygan]

Who runs their marketing team and approves all this?

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

It's not so much the ad that is problematic. The product itself (and the existence of the demand for it) is problematic, the ad is just a straightforward description of the product.

 

[OG Shaka Zulu]

The whitewashing in this thread if gross. I can't speak for Asia but this bleaching crap in Black countries is directly due to white supremacy, slavery, and colonialism. It's pretty much a symptom of collective trauma heaped upon a people for centuries.

 

[Raven117]

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

It is. They are marketing it this way because people buy the products that do this.

They aren't intentionally being racist in Africa (its the entire market), they are marketing to consumers who want a product for that purpose. Whether its a good purpose or a purpose that has been influenced another way, then thats another matter entirely.

 

[DSN2K]

The question that needs answering is why are black woman/girls still being pressured into believing they need lighter skin. That is ultimate problem and yeah it's racism on many levels.

 

[Ahasverus]

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.

I sometimes buy lightening products because my skin is light, but sun makes it darker /in some places only/ so if I want uniform looking skin I need to lighten the dark spots a bit.

These products have their use, but this marketing is just unfiltered racism. Fuck.

 

[Nipo]

Whitening wash is ridiculously popular in Asia. I'm amazed they didn't do market research into local preference before these ads.

 

[TheOMan]

Again - I am amazed that people willingly promote these products.

 

[EYEL1NER]

TIL whitening soap is a thing

I know a ton of people who use this and have been buying it for years:

It's plant placenta extract that the name "Placenta" is referring to but the name still grossed me out the first time A relative grabbed some off a shelf at a store, partly because I imagine that if human placenta was found to lighten skin, there would still be a big market for it.

 

[LordKasual]

"RACIST?"

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......

I mean, it's pretty fucked up. But it's not like it shouldn't be ALLOWED or anything.


This kind of thing is widespread in Africa, the women buy it up because they perceive ligher skin as more attractive.

Attacking the company who makes the product is only going to do so much.

 

[LewieP]

It's kind of sad that there's demand for whitening products, especially if it's coming from a place of not feeling happy in your skin, rather than a purely class based motivation (although there's overlap between the two), but I don't actually think plainly advertising a product by simply describing how it functions is inherently racist.

Obviously there are more sensitive and less sensitive language/imagery to use, and I'm not familiar with the cultural context here, but here in SE Asia these products are extremely popular.

I'd say whitening products are the symptom of the racism, not the cause. Proliferation of western beauty standards because of cultural imperialism and regular imperialism is a real shame, but people are voting with their wallets.

Although there can be a feedback loop effect, where as whitening products become more widespread in a society, the notions of beauty shift.

 

[Kite]

Let's stop pretending that colorism is not also informed by centuries of White supremacy and colonialsm being exchanged throughout the globe.

I can't speak for other asian countries, but in China it is not. Dark skin = tanned = peasant working in the fields = low class. Pale = stayed inside = rich. If you see an Chinese woman with a large umbrella, large floppy hat and covered in long sleeves on a sunny day, now you know why. It's classism, not racism.

https://www.vagabondjourney.com/white-skin-a-chinese-obession/

 

[pswii60]

Words aside, this imagery is no different to a pale white person applying fake tan product - a fake tan their skin could never achieve naturally through sunbathing. There is overwhelming pressure on white women not just to be their natural pale selves.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

People buy shit like this?

 

[caliph95]

People buy shit like this?

In Nigeria

Yep

 

[GrizzleBoy]

Unfortunately, products to alter skin pigmentation of black women is actually a huge market.

Creams.

Soaps.

Masks.

Its already a thing. I guess they just want some of the pie.

 

[blu]

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

That's fair.

 

[KillLaCam]

It's wrong but I wouldn't call this one racist.

 

[kikiribu]

Almost as bad as “for normal and dark skin”

 

[caliph95]

It's wrong but I wouldn't call this one racist.

Yeah racist is the wrong term

 

[King Gilga]

Eh, people are buying it and they have to market it.

 

[TheContact]

AGAIN? What the fuck is wrong with them!?

 

[TimeEffect]

This is absolutely common in 3rd world countries, not that its okay

 

[InfiniteBento]

What the fuck @ that product to begin with.

Skin bleaching is a serious issue and this is the kind of shit that makes it worse.

 

[jordan0386]

Many black women want to bleach. From my own experience. Many Jamaican women do.

Product demand. Racism maybe 13 percent.

 

[Heshinsi]

The whitewashing in this thread if gross. I can't speak for Asia but this bleaching crap in Black countries is directly due to white supremacy, slavery, and colonialism. It's pretty much a symptom of collective trauma heaped upon a people for centuries.

Shitting on darker skinned people predates white supremacy and European colonialism by a factor of centuries if not a few millennia.

 

[OG Shaka Zulu]

Shitting on darker skinned people predates white supremacy and European colonialism by a factor of centuries if not a few millennia.

Black Africans were bleaching before Euro contact? Due to what, Arab influence?