Credit: Whitenicious by Dencia Advertisement. Cuotisy of Daily Mail.
BLEACHING SYNDROME
Today's Color Line
Colorism has created a culture within the African American community that devalues dark-skinned African-Americans by invalidating their complexion. Cosmetic companies have contributed to the degradation of men and women with dark skin by engaging in a globalized market for skin bleaching products. Manufactured in several regions around the world, including the Middle East, Europe, North America and Africa, various racial and ethnic groups from around the world are buying these products or mixing their own to gain a lighter complexion.
Images in bleaching advertisements suggest that lightening the skin would not only give the user white skin, but would also cleanse and purify the skin, primarily suggesting that “lightening the black physicality is socially acceptable because white skin is the superior and sought after an ideal, unlike black skin that is inferior”.
There is no evidence that skin bleaching is more prevalent among African-American women than men, yet skin bleaching products depict images of beauty that targets women such as Whitenicious from African pop start Denica. With the tagline “Say goodbye to pigmentation and spots forever,” Whitenicious lightens the skin in just seven days. Once the product lunched, it sold out within 24 hours. With skin bleaching has become a growing trend in West Africa, many are angered that it appears she is promoting a “phenomenon that has come to symbolize self-hatred among dark-skinned women” through her product. Whitenicious sends a strong message that colorism is not a thing of the past, but an issue that continues to resonate with today.
