On January 8th, 2016, the Thai beauty company, Seoul Secret, released an online video advertisement for Snowz skin lightener pills with the tagline, “whiteness makes you win” (Holmes, 2016). However, the advert was withdrawn hours after its release due to public outrage and accusations of racism (2016). While the camera zooms out, the Thai women’s white complexion darkens and her smile turns bleak. “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. In this scene, whiteness in the black imagination is attributed with wealth and prosperity. The model positioned on the right transforms into charcoal black, reminiscent
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283). Whiteness as a standpoint intersects with multiple nationalities including, Mexicans, Latinos, Indians, African Americans, and Indigenous persons. Most notably, “blacks” are blatantly referenced in the Snowz advert. In Southern Africa, European colonialists propagated the ideology of white supremacy, which associated blackness with primitiveness and contamination (Glenn, 2008, p. 284). The Mexican concept of mestizaje is endorsed as the national ideal, in which racial and ethnic ancestries mix; however, it destroys a person’s identity, to generate a whiter cosmic race (Glenn, 2008, p. 293). By contrast, the vast majority of skin lightener users in the U.S are white women and through the mid-1920s, tanning became accessible for white women and symbolized high social class (Glenn, 2008, p. 295). Western civilizations fascination with tanning is designed to enhance an individual’s appearance, whereas the Snowz advert sells skin lightener pills under the reinforcement of racist …show more content…
Consumer society is taught to automatically decode commercial messages such as, “white makes you win,” which attributes white normative bodies happiness to success. By deconstructing these images, the public becomes aware of the ways in which images and language perpetuate stereotypes about gender and culture (Grewal and Kaplan, 2006, p. 265). Middle-upper class Asian women are stereotyped as pale, thin, intelligent, youthful, beautiful individuals, thereby excluding any opportunity for difference. Moreover, the advertising industry is built on the manufacturing and exploitation of men and women’s insecurities that offer solutions for a price. Though advertisers promise their products will make consumers happy, these commodities leave shoppers with momentary satisfaction (Jhally, 1990, p. 251). Furthermore, these consumption practices reproduce class and social inequalities and detract from issues the public must to negotiate collectively, such as education, health care, or
283). Whiteness as a standpoint intersects with multiple nationalities including, Mexicans, Latinos, Indians, African Americans, and Indigenous persons. Most notably, “blacks” are blatantly referenced in the Snowz advert. In Southern Africa, European colonialists propagated the ideology of white supremacy, which associated blackness with primitiveness and contamination (Glenn, 2008, p. 284). The Mexican concept of mestizaje is endorsed as the national ideal, in which racial and ethnic ancestries mix; however, it destroys a person’s identity, to generate a whiter cosmic race (Glenn, 2008, p. 293). By contrast, the vast majority of skin lightener users in the U.S are white women and through the mid-1920s, tanning became accessible for white women and symbolized high social class (Glenn, 2008, p. 295). Western civilizations fascination with tanning is designed to enhance an individual’s appearance, whereas the Snowz advert sells skin lightener pills under the reinforcement of racist …show more content…
Consumer society is taught to automatically decode commercial messages such as, “white makes you win,” which attributes white normative bodies happiness to success. By deconstructing these images, the public becomes aware of the ways in which images and language perpetuate stereotypes about gender and culture (Grewal and Kaplan, 2006, p. 265). Middle-upper class Asian women are stereotyped as pale, thin, intelligent, youthful, beautiful individuals, thereby excluding any opportunity for difference. Moreover, the advertising industry is built on the manufacturing and exploitation of men and women’s insecurities that offer solutions for a price. Though advertisers promise their products will make consumers happy, these commodities leave shoppers with momentary satisfaction (Jhally, 1990, p. 251). Furthermore, these consumption practices reproduce class and social inequalities and detract from issues the public must to negotiate collectively, such as education, health care, or