Eurocentrism and Thai ad lambasted for racism
An advertisement for skin-whitening pills with the slogan “white makes you win” and featuring a Thai celebrity attributing her success to her pale complexion caused outrage and accusations of racism within hours of being posted online.
Thai skincare company Seoul Secret quickly apologised and removed all content related to the 50-second video after it went viral and was lambasted for having racist overtones.
It features Cris Horwang – a 35-year-old actor, model, singer and dance teacher – saying the whiteness she achieved through beauty products had brought her fame.
“Before I got to this point, the competition was very high. If I stop taking care of myself, everything I have worked for, the whiteness I have invested in, may be lost,” she says.
The video shows another fair-skinned woman and Cris refers to her, saying: “The new kids will replace me, will make me a faded star.” Cris’s skin slowly turns black as the other model remains white.
“White makes you win,” the narrator says, adding that the product, labelled Snowz, includes glutathione, a compound taken from kiwi seeds that “helps you not return to black”.
On one popular online forum, Thai people chastised the video. “You shouldn’t use skin colour as a comparison to make another people look bad,” Thammaijung wrote. “It’s like saying if you happened to be born black, you always lose. The way you patronise people with black skin as losers is clearly racist.”
Seoul Secret said on Facebook it would “like to apologise for the mistake, and claim full responsibility for the incident. Our company did not have any intention to convey discriminatory or racist messages.What we intended to convey was that self-improvement in terms of personality, appearance, skills and professionality is crucial.”
As in many Asian countries, skin-whitening products are popular in Thailand. While there are many creams that help lighten complexions, there has also been a growth in alternative whitening techniques – including a cheap “chlorine soap” that was sold online last year despite doctors warning of dangerous irritations.
Another was investigated by the Thai Food and Drug Administration over claims it contained “salmon sperm”.
Parts of Thai society have recently hit back at the whitening craze. Tan, a magazine celebrating sunkissed skin, launched last year and in 2014 Maeya Nonthawan, a darker skinned model, won the Miss Thailand World pageant.
Cris has 2.2 million followers on Instagram and one of her recent uploaded photos shows her sunbathing by the sea.
Skin lightening
Skin lightening has become a common practice throughout different areas of the globe in order to fit the Eurocentric beauty standard. Many women risk their health in order to use these products and obtain the skin tone they desire.
There is evidence to suggest that some types of skin-whitening products use active ingredients, such as mercurous chloride and hydroquinone, which can be harmful. Hydroquinone is not available without a prescription in Europe. This is also the case in many other countries where hydroquinone can only be prescribed by a doctor for certain skin conditions.
A test of common skin lightening creams available in Nigeria showed that they caused mutations in bacteria and were possibly carcinogenic. A study that examined skin whitening creams in Mexico found a high concentration of mercury in several of them.
Ankita Kumari is appointed as Miss India International 2017 by Glamanand Supermodel India. She will represent India at Miss International 2017 in Japan later this year. She succeeds Rewati Chetri as Miss India International.
In India, the sales of skin lightening creams in 2012 totaled around 258 tons, and in 2013 sales were about US$300 million.
Fairer Freida controversy in 2011
Indian actor Freida Pinto's lighter skin tone in a new advertisement of L'Oreal Paris has sparked controversy but the cosmetic brand has denied that they resorted to photoshop to get the fairer skin tone.
The Slumdog Millionaire star, who was signed as the face of the brand in 2009, appears fairer compared to her original skin tone in their new ad for 'Colours Take Flight' make-up.
The cosmetic brand claims that the fairness comes because of the lighting effect and not because it was altered on computer.
"Freida Pinto has been a spokesperson for L'Oreal Paris brand since 2009 and we highly value our relationship with Pinto. This campaign was meant to highlight Freida Pinto's make-up colours applied on her eyes and lips. Thus, some powerful studio lights with ring-flash have been used for this purpose to create a "runway" effect on the picture," the brand said in a statement issued here.
"There has been no whitening retouching process whatsoever on Freida Pinto's face," the statement further read.
Update
Excerpt from Guardian article Sun 27 Jan 2019
In 2011, her L’Oréal contract came under scrutiny when it was suggested that the company had lightened her skin in a campaign. Had they Photoshopped the image? L’Oréal denies altering her skin tone but she says: “I’m sure they did, because that’s not the colour of my skin you saw in a few of the campaigns.”
Did she complain? “I said to my agent after the first controversy that I would like to see the pictures before, and I would like to be able to question them on colour correction.” She also insisted on having a clause written into her contract. “All the brands, including L’Oréal, have a skin-lightening range that they sell in India and I made them put it in my contract that I would not touch that with a barge pole. If you don’t put it in your contract before you sign on, they can come and you will be compelled to do it.” After she protested about the skin-lightening, she says, it never happened again. (L’Oréal has been approached for a comment.)
As of 2013, the global market for skin lighteners was projected to reach $19.8 billion by 2018 based on sales growth primarily in Africa, Indian-Asia, and the Middle East.
With the rise of these products, research has been done to study the long term damage. Some complications experienced are exogenous ochronosis, impaired wound healing and wound dehiscence, the fish odor syndrome, nephropathy, steroid addiction syndrome, predisposition to infections, a broad spectrum of cutaneous and endocrinologic complications of corticosteroids, and suppression of hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal axis. Despite all these health effects it can cause, many will not give up their products.
Whitening products have become increasingly popular in many societies across Asia, and so has plastic surgery.
It's an accepted truism that all beauty pageant contestants have a certain similar "look," but one Japanese blog has touched off a firestorm of speculation that South Korea's plastic surgery craze may have taken that cliché too far.
It's an established fact that South Korea has one of, if not the highest rate of plastic surgery per capita in the entire world, and a Japanese blog covering South Korean topic recently wondered out loud if the phenomenon hasn't unintentionally turned the country's Miss Korea beauty pageant into a clone parade.
South Korea
South Korea has been influenced by the Western beauty standard. In order to achieve a more western look, some South Koreans turn to plastic surgery to obtain those features. According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, South Korea has the highest rates of plastic surgery procedures per capita. The most asked for procedures are the blepharoplasty and rhinoplasty. Another procedure done in Korea is having the muscle under the tongue that connects to the bottom of the mouth surgically snipped. Parents have their children to undergo this surgery in order to pronounce English better. In Korea, cosmetic eyelid surgery is considered to be normal. Korea has close and modern ties with the U.S. which allows constant interaction with the Western culture. In order to fit in they undergo these lengths to become more westernized. Many companies in South Korea have focused on more race-driven beauty and have made more skin lightening products, hair straightening products and even affordable eyelid surgeries.
The Plastic Surgery Capital of the World Is Banning a Huge Part of Their Business
By Elise Minton Tabin , Executive Beauty Editor | November 28, 2017
Update - Asia's next top model
So without further ado, here is the unofficial list of Asian beauties competing in “Asia’s Next Top Model Cycle 6”.
