I believe all of you have seen signs like ‘this seat is reserved for handicapped’ or ‘this seat is reserved for senior citizens’ in public places and on public transportation. Recently, in February this year in Bangkok, I - and millions of commuters – saw a print ad saying “This seat is reserved for white skin person” on the BTS (Bangkok Mass Transit System).
Without doubt, the skin whitening trend spread around among Asian people including Thais. This print ad is also trying to deliver the white skin message to the consumer, and probably, this ad did it so well in terms of catching attention and raising awareness because a lot of people felt strongly about it and went on to publicly criticize it on many websites, including facebook.com, Pantip.com, etc. Instead of criticizing how skin is whitening from the product’s benefit, they criticized more about ‘racist’ that they felt this ad carried.
I thought those who created this print ad idea wouldn’t expect this kind of feedback or effect from public, but after a few days, the print ads were all removed from BTS due to the public outcry it ignited.
The issue lies not in the function of skin whitening itself – many brands and ads have communicated that before in Thailand, but the psychological framing of the concept ‘Reserved for…’ which represents a spatial metaphor with cultural connotations that led to very negative associations:
‘…reserved for handicapped person or senior citizen’ evokes feelings of charity – but also associations with challenged citizens,
And, critically:
‘…reserved for white skin people’ evokes racist associations from the past.
From this perspective, I learned how metaphor and framing can powerfully ignite certain emotions and feelings – due to associations that are co-created in the mind of the consumer!
Pornsupanan Sarthianvaraporn (Gib) – TMRC Thailand
Please note that all blogs on Consumer Voices represent the opinions of the respective author or authors, and not necessarily those of TMRC or its affiliates.
It’s funny that nowadays in most Asian consumers minds, the term ‘white skin’ automatically evokes association to the imagery of a superior, almost ‘privileged’ human being – and not the other way round, as in the case with the implicit mental frame used in “‘reserved for’ the handicapped or senior citizens. ”
Could a type of ‘white skin’ be so white that it starts to carry a less than positive meaning? Hmm…given the strength and deep-rooted-ness of consumers, especially girls’ aspiration, probably not…
…Could probably say mostly or a lot of them (Asian)… For me, I (used to) wanted to have skin Tan color
I even used to buy an oil to make my skin become dardker hahahaha but it didn’t help that much because it backs to normal when I stopped using it. Or even my skin is a little whiter now while I am here.
I think cultural heritage has an influence here – if you look at classical depictions of (female) beauty, in China, Japan, etc, the ceramic-like white skin factor seems a definite “beauty standard”. I am not sure when having a tan – the darker the better – became a beauty symbol in Western countries, among Caucasians, I haven’t explored the cultural roots of that particular “standard”…but I do remember that as a teenager I definitely didn’t appeal to the girls during and after the summer vacations, when their eyes became soft and soft and softer by the reflection within them of those boys whose parents had taken them for a 6-week vacation at Mediterranean beaches…
We still don’t have the idea of racist attached to the fair skin in India. Yes there is a prevalent caste system but not based on the skin color.(This term arises when Indians compete with the western world, but not within India) I think this ‘fairer the better’ has two aspects in India. (in your terms whiter)
1. The fairer looked like the British, who ruled India for long, and yet the image of the ‘gorasahab’ which means white master has not gone. The British were good in marketing themselves as the one’s superior due to knowledge, power establishment etc. There is again a differentiation in the white,(called fair more than white here). A Caucasian white is not so appealing than the ceramic white. The Caucasian white is said to be looking like the lizard skin. So generally imitating the British to become superior by looking like them is the possibility.
2. there is a second aspect to it, due to the Indian Mythology. Gold has always been important in India ever since.The Vedas even prescribe eating of the gold powder for strength and agility. And hence a golden yellow color of the skin (called fair here) is more desirable. Various hymns describe the Gods as the one’s with a skin shining like gold. So having a golden fair skin is almost looking like God. This applies to men and women both.
What i think as an artist is,here it is more a visual balance and contrast, the lighter the skin, the more of contrast with respect to the eyes and hair which in Indians is generally black and the pink/darker color lips. For the darker side that is in South India, there is contrast in the teeth color, the skin is super dark, but the teeth are super duper white.The basic idea of looking attractive remains. It is like simply seeing a picture, and getting attracted to the more contrast at the visual levels.
Interesting observations, Sanmitra…I think it makes sense that for one, visual aesthetic appeal and “norms” play a role as shaped during our evolutionary processes and which signify health, fertility, strength, intelligence, etc – in the same way as a symmetrical facial composition is generally acknowledged to be more “beautiful” – and second, that sensory associations with colors, hues and teints activate associations with “superiority”, “lowlife”, “knowledge”, whatever. Here, cultural and environmental influences come into play, and by the same token, this is exactly where there is ample room for marketers to create and engineer “norms” or at least the strength of those, by clever association with cultural, societal and artistic spaces…
think these aspirations are built into human psyche i.e. longing for things they don’t have or at least experience it first hand, kind of like ‘grass is greener on the other side’.of course India has had fair share of controversy with brand Fair & Lovely, talk about a brand name that says it all.Even the African continent is going through this phase where a lighter tone of dark skin is aspirational and for many improves their chances of sucess in life (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106419771).This is less to do with racist inclinations based on color and more to do with our existing mindsets. For a long time in Asia and Afric now, lighter skin implies you have had less exposure to sunlight indicating limited outdoor work and by that extension a more privilged upbringing.In the Western world its the other way round, healthy tans means you have had time to vacation and thereby quite well off compared to more pale skin.