Ask Facebook to Stop Running Racist, Skin-Lightening Apps

by Kishwer Ruby · 2010-07-17 03:57:00 -0400
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It’s no secret that a number of companies market creams to help people in India whiten their skins. Consumers have long been inundated with ads that use prominent Bollywood actors to promote skin-lightening products. So when Vaseline began marketing its products to Indians, it wasn’t unusual that the young and popular actor Shahid Kapoor would sign up as it spokesperson.

What differentiates Vaseline Men's marketing campaign is the new Facebook application they created to promote their product. Called Vaseline Men BE PREPARED, the application boasts the tagline "Transform Your Face on Facebook" and shows a glowing visual of Kapoor, whose face is separated into two parts — one distinguishably lighter than the other. The application takes three steps: a) a user uploads a pictures, b) the application "clears your dark spot and lightens your skin" and c) you upload the new avatar onto an album.

And while it’s no surprise that a company would exploit the vanity of youth and the power of social media to promote a product that contributes to the notion that white is right, it’s irresponsible of Facebook to host an application of this sort. Please join us in signing our petition asking Facebook to remove this application.

I tested out the application on a photo of the composer of Slumdog Millionaire's soundtrack, A.R. Rahman. The new version featured a bar that the user dragged across the uploaded photo that lightened their skin tone. Sure enough, when I passed the bar over Rahman's face, his skin tone perceptibly lightened.

According to the campaign's spokesperson, the response in India to the product has been "phenomenal." So far, the application shows almost 800 fans and close to 9,000 active users. The product's tagline markets it as available for "the next generation of men." But as my fellow Race in America blogger, Anna Hirsch, has written, the potentially hazardous effects of such skin-lightening creams remain to be seen. Many are known to contain mercury and other contaminants.

Young people face pressure every day that contribute to a low self-esteem. Getting told by a beauty products manufactuer that they need to lighten their skin before they are considered beautiful is emotionally damaging — and not a message social media should be used to spread.

Photo Credit: styleite

Kishwer Ruby is a Pakistani-American who also writes about issues related to the South Asian American identity for Sepia Mutiny, a site established by second-generation South Asian Americans.

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