By Sharanya Gopinathan
This gross ad, intended for Nivea Middle East, was rightfully met with lots of outrage on social media. The ad, for Nivea Black & White deodorant, features a woman who’s sitting down facing a window, accompanied by the text ‘White is Purity’.
That’s right, it literally says, in exactly those words, that “white is purity”. Unsurprisingly in times like these, the ad was immediately co-opted by alt-right social media users, who found that it fell neatly in line with their white supremacist leanings. The ad has since been pulled down, but not before Twitter really let Nivea have it.
Indian journalist Jaya Sundaresh took to Twitter to express her outrage over the ad, and her tweets remind us that this isn’t a one-off incident, or a marketing strategy limited to the Middle East: companies all over the world profit from colourism, and have been doing so in India with remarkable success, and have been endorsed by major Indian celebrities.
yo, there is /nothing/ shocking about nivea’s “white is purity” ad. shown here: pic.twitter.com/umvHm0M3oY
— Jaya Sundaresh🌹 (@jayaist) April 5, 2017
large multinationals have ALWAYS profited off racist, light-is-right colorism in asia and the middle east.
— Jaya Sundaresh🌹 (@jayaist) April 5, 2017
here we have a @Loreal lightening cream advertising “white perfect” with aishwarya rai. @loreal: a multinational, just like nivea pic.twitter.com/2WsuCOkudd
— Jaya Sundaresh🌹 (@jayaist) April 5, 2017
.@Loreal vaseline, owned by @Unilever, coming through with the face lightening apps on fbook, to advertise their creams. see your face on whiteness. pic.twitter.com/oxJLRh4ZdM
— Jaya Sundaresh🌹 (@jayaist) April 5, 2017
.@Loreal @Unilever more nivea bullshit. did you know it’s important to have white pits? who knew. pic.twitter.com/bekuilAZhv
— Jaya Sundaresh🌹 (@jayaist) April 6, 2017
.@Loreal @Unilever dove. body positive dove. they too, want you to have white pits. pic.twitter.com/4pQOwoOvyg
— Jaya Sundaresh🌹 (@jayaist) April 6, 2017
While also perpetuating racism and the idea that light skin is something to aspire for, many fairness creams also contain compounds that really shouldn’t be put on skin, which is why Ghana banned fairness creams in the country in February 2016.
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