![]() ![]() One of my co-workers, another British teacher, once attempted to run a debate class about the Seoul Secret advertisement blackface controversy, and it didn’t work at all. Shortly after the ad was released, the Youtube comments section was disabled, then later that day, the video was removed and Seoul Secret issued an apology. The ad’s slogan translates to ‘ white makes you win‘ or ‘ whiteness is winning‘. It then showed her next to one of those girls, while she was painted completely black, looking on forlornly. She said that if she stopped ‘ taking care‘ of herself and whitening her skin, other newer and lighter actresses would outshine her. In the latest, Seoul Secret released an advert for a whitening pill called Snowz featuring an actress who talks about how her white skin was the key to her success. It seems that there’s a new blackface advertisement campaign every year in Thailand. This remains deeply ingrained in the Thai psyche” At the most simplistic level, white equates good and beautiful and black the opposite. “ There has long been a decided preference an obsession bordering on pathological of “white skin” in Thai culture, as I explained. Intended or not, it’s like an American pointing a foot at a Thai person, say, in Los Angeles.”Įven if some of these advertisements like these are just stupid and insensitive rather than intentionally racist, they do help to perpetuate the already common idea that dark skin is less attractive and among all the other instances of racism and uses of blackface, it doesn’t bode well. “The ad poster unfortunately comes out looking like a Thai version of the offensive American blackface. In an interview with Saksith Saiyasombut from Asian Correspondent, Kaewmala of Thai Woman Talks provided some insight into this incident and how it fits into Thailand’s ideas of skin tone and beauty. In 2013, Dunkin Donuts was forced to apologise after putting out an advertisement showing a model in blackface to promote their ‘charcoal donuts’. Below is a video compilation of some of the most horrendous ones, including one from Cintra, offering a scholarship to girls with the most ‘radiant’ white skin. The picture below shows how the brand name and logo were altered, only after foreign influence condemned the original.Īs well as overtly racist products, there are also racist advertising campaigns from otherwise seemingly reasonable companies. The brand continues to be very popular in Asia. This doesn’t seem so bad until you realise that ‘ darlie‘ translates to ‘ black person‘ in Chinese (黑人). There’s also Darkie toothpaste, which went through a similar process and was changed to Darlie after Colgate bought into the brand in 1990. However, ‘Black Man’ products are still available through retailers, so this must have been a very recent change. The company’s official website shows that the name has been altered to ‘Be Man’ and the chap in the logo is now white instead of his previous shade of grey. In Thailand, you can buy ‘Black Man’ mops, brooms and brushes, all carrying a little logo showing a smiling black guy in a suit, at your service. ![]() Let’s start with ‘Black Man’ cleaning products. However, racism in Thailand often shows up differently than you might see in other parts of the world. This is illustrated by the abuse and mistreatment of migrant workers from Myanmar and Cambodia. This idea is also affected by the presence of nationalism and xenophobia, which causes some locals to look down on outsiders. Blackface is frequently used here and the shocked reaction from Westerners usually goes over the heads of many Thais. ![]() Dark skin is often seen as undesirable here and the market for skin-whitening products is booming as Thais long for lighter, ‘more beautiful’ skin. During my time in Thailand so far, it’s been impossible to ignore the presence of racism. ![]()
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