Tag: Thailand

Is Commercial Offering Skin Whitening Racist?

| January 16, 2016

It is interesting how there are companies marketing products for whiter skin to darker skinned people while countries with people with whiter skin promote tanning services to give customers darker skin.  This may have less to do with racism and more do to with classism if that is even a word.  In Korea people with whiter skin were thought more highly of because it meant they weren’t farmers working out in the fields all day thus from a higher social class.  It could be the same rationale in Thailand.  Are there any ROK Heads familiar with Thailand that can comment on this?

The video advert of a skin whitening pill in Thailand was denounced by many Internet users as racist for carrying the tagline ‘You just need to be white to win.’

After receiving widespread criticism, the maker of the ‘Snowz’ whitening pill removed the ad from YouTube and issued a public apology.

The advert featured a Thai actress attributing her success to her white skin. She added that her popularity will suffer if she loses her whiteness, thus explaining the need for her to use whitening products like Snowz.

The ad ends with the now infamous tagline ‘You just need to be white to win.’  [Global Voices]

You can read more at the link.