Well, my title does sound a little bit like the song of Michael Jackson.
"But, if you're thinkin' about my baby it don't matter if you're black or white"
(Black or White)
I have been "immune"
when people (i mean in Indonesia) say i'm black although the fact is, i am not black. I'm brown. But, it doesn't matter for me anymore. Just like the song, it shouldn't matter you're black or white. Besides, i got bored with that mockery. But it does matter when you live in Indonesia as people consider white skin as a key opportunity enhancer: a social indicator of status, power, wealth, and most emphatically, beauty. The message is obvious. Dark skin is inferior and somehow dirty, ugly, or even unhealthy. That is why i love staying in Australia as people here are dying to have darker skin.
Cosmetic industries who see this opportunity are happy to sell their products in Indonesian markets. Therefore, the women have been bombarded with advertisements and products of various whitening skin products, such as, soap, lotions, moisturizers, powders, facial masks, scrubs and more. All of them promise that Indonesian ladies can be white in one month, some even offering white skin in a week (Indonesia Ladies and Skin Whitening Products).
When i went back home a couple months ago, i got offended with one of the cosmetic company that had just launched its new tagline. In English, it means "Your face rocks my world" reinforced by television ads and starred by two young-talented male singers. Why males? Because Indonesian women want to have their skin lighter to attract their opposite sex. This video can show you that being white is the most precious asset of women in retaining their love of their life.
"But, if you're thinkin' about my baby it don't matter if you're black or white"
(Black or White)
I have been "immune"
when people (i mean in Indonesia) say i'm black although the fact is, i am not black. I'm brown. But, it doesn't matter for me anymore. Just like the song, it shouldn't matter you're black or white. Besides, i got bored with that mockery. But it does matter when you live in Indonesia as people consider white skin as a key opportunity enhancer: a social indicator of status, power, wealth, and most emphatically, beauty. The message is obvious. Dark skin is inferior and somehow dirty, ugly, or even unhealthy. That is why i love staying in Australia as people here are dying to have darker skin.Cosmetic industries who see this opportunity are happy to sell their products in Indonesian markets. Therefore, the women have been bombarded with advertisements and products of various whitening skin products, such as, soap, lotions, moisturizers, powders, facial masks, scrubs and more. All of them promise that Indonesian ladies can be white in one month, some even offering white skin in a week (Indonesia Ladies and Skin Whitening Products).
When i went back home a couple months ago, i got offended with one of the cosmetic company that had just launched its new tagline. In English, it means "Your face rocks my world" reinforced by television ads and starred by two young-talented male singers. Why males? Because Indonesian women want to have their skin lighter to attract their opposite sex. This video can show you that being white is the most precious asset of women in retaining their love of their life.
I found this ads is somewhat irritating due to the fact that the normal skin of Indonesians is yellow or brown to dark brown, because Indonesia is a tropical country. Also, I'd say this ad campaign can generate dangerous habits of Indonesian women. They can do anything to have lighter skin. Even, they might not think about the chemicals contained in the beauty products that can risk their skin health. Let's say, Hydroquinone and Mercury. Do you think the company should educate consumers to be aware of the dangerous of this chemicals as part of their CSR programme?
On the other hand, Dove with its "Campaign for Real Beauty" attempts to deliver a message that you are beautiful regardless your skin colour, hair colour, and other physical performance aspects. This is excellent because this campaign can make women build their self-esteem so they won't feel inferior, rather than spending a big amount of money on whitening skin products. Besides, people are born with their unique characteristics.
I know that Pond's have to boost profits in order to generate revenue. But is it a good way to reinforce that being white is the best portrayal in a country whose its women mostly have darker skin? Should the company think about this issue or ignore it? Or maybe should the company sell its products with user education or product knowledge campaign?
I personally would like to go against your statement “Dark skin is inferior and somehow dirty, ugly, or even unhealthy. That is why i love staying in Australia as people here are dying to have darker skin”.
ReplyDeleteI believe it is more towards your personal assumption rather than a statement which is acceptable by the whole wide world. As a future communication professional, we should be comfortable with our own appearance before we could make others feels comfortable in communicating with us. I do agree with you that the cosmetic advertisements nowadays are more towards exploiting women by promoting an “artificial beauty” for them. However, there exist a group of woman who face inferiority complex with their appearance and will definitely falls with the lies behind the cosmetic advertisement.
As for the advertisement, it is irritating cause don’t you think that the man is falling in love again with that girl is because of all the memories that they had together and not because of the girl is becoming fairer in 7 days? How about 14 days? 21 days? What if the girl has to go to Malaysia or Indonesia for one year (working purposes) and due to the hot weather, her skin turn out to be dark...will that man leave her again? Its all about true love..
Well it’s just my personal point of view as I don’t believe in artificial beauty because beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. We should be proud of what we have because the most important aspect that we should consider is “our heart” because it will never grow old like our skin.. Just like your point on Pond’s advertisement.
In my opinion, cosmetic industries should pay attention to the Ethical Advertising Standard (EAS-405) provided by International Charter before they advertise their product to consumers. In the Article 1, it states that all advertising should be legal, decent, honest and truthful.
ReplyDeleteThe term truthful means, cosmetic industries should be honest, and always tells the truth to consumers that their products are safe and healthy. In this case, the Dove ads is a good example. They seem to be honest to sell their product to cumsumers rather the Ponds ads.
But to prove their honesty, we can not only see they advertisement. We should do laboratory testing. In Indonesia, we have Badan Pengawas Obat dan Makanan to prove products are healhty and safe.
To sum up, cosmetic industries should pay attention to the Ethical Advertising Standard in their advertisement. Besides, their products must be tested in the drugs and food laboratory testing to prove that products are safe and healthy.
M. Rasyid Ridho
Librarian
Library of Ministry of National Education
it is "a years ago" perspective to have opinion about people from their skin color. it is your brain, your behavior and your personality that show who you are.
ReplyDeletei think we will never see pond`s will use dark skin models for their adds, because they sell whitening skin product. trust me, that would be very stupid...;)
but it would good to change our mindset, that being white not always make you look more beautiful than others. the beauty of you comes from your brain and your personality.
cheers,
adhi
I love the dove commercial, but it will take a lot more than that kind of commercial to get people to think differently. We are heading towards a society where people are getting botox before any wrinkles appear because we are so bombarded by images of 'beautiful' women who have smooth, flawless skins. As for black or white, I guess you know what I think, considering that I am still black- every colour is beautiful and that is why we are what we are, imagine a world with only one race or one gender! It is funny because where I come from, men love dark fat girls.
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting post. I had never heard of people wanting to be "whiter" before (Michael Jackson rumors aside), and you raise an interesting point.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see different companies using these two different messages. One says you're beautiful as you are and one says that you're beautiful if you look different than you normally do.
While I think that it is important for people to feel comfortable as they are, it has always been a tactic used by advertisers to play on people's insecurities.
As well, it's not just the advertisers fault, they're only doing what they are paid to be doing, advertising for what the product does. Dove uses their brand to make people feel secure about themselves, but here Ponds has created a product to make women look different. One could also look to blame them for even having such a product in the first place.
AND, if that's the case, they are only creating their product to serve a demand for such a thing. The real problem may be with the society.
This then brings it back to why society feels this way, which is probably due to media and advertising.
It's a vicious cycle.