This week in class we discussed how dirtiness is associated with people of other races and ethnicities. Our society is obsessed with cleanliness and often this cleanliness is equal to whiteness. When we see commercials telling us to give money to orphans in Africa, it always shows them lying in garbage and it mentions how these people can’t even bathe in clean water. Slumdog Millionaire provoked emotions in the audience by showing young children sleeping in garbage. Apparently, the worst state of life is not being able to bathe or have pure water. The advertising industry plays off this all the time from advertising bottled water that comes from the fresh streams of Fiji, to the new soap that doesn’t leave soap scum on your body, or simply the new products for making sure all the germs come off your counter tops. These commercials usually portray Caucasian, middle to upper class women who enjoy bathing, or cleaning because of such a great new products. How often do we see cleaning products advertised with minorities as the demonstrators?
While looking into this subject, I cam across a website dedicated to posting advertisements which are considered controversial, but nevertheless had been produced to advertise products we have all seen in the stores. The one I am posting on this blog shows an Indian women and an Indian man, who we find out is a celebrity, who are obviously in love. For some reason they split and years later she sees him on the cover of a magazine with another women, who is Caucasian. Then she sees him on the street with his new girl friend and their eyes meet, but he doesn’t go back to talk with her. The camera then shows her looking at a TV with an advertisement. This advertisement is for a Ponds product. This advertisement was for a product that they claimed contained some sort of chemical to produce a glowing white, pink color in ones skin. So the message is that she could maybe get him back if she changed the color of her skin to appear Caucasian. Even though this isn’t advertising soap it still has to do with one’s hygiene. The fact that this advertisement was actually produced in England in today’s times is disgusting. Not to mention the fact that England has a huge Indian population. I also find it interesting how the people they use to portray the Indian people in the commercial aren’t even dark skinned to begin with. If you think about our entertainment industry only a few people, become famous with dark skin. Most of the African American women who are famous have very Caucasian features, with extremely light skin. A couple examples of these women are Halley Barry and Tyro Banks.
Even in India the people who are famous for their roles in movies and as singers, are of lighter skin. I find it strange that this commercial is advertising a product for lighter skin when the female already has light skin. I guess in the end they still want to appeal to the public and they think by showing beautiful, light-skinned, women people are more inclined to associate their product with beauty. I don’t agree with this, but perhaps beauty products sell better if a beautiful light skinned female or male is advertising a beauty product? In the end the company is out to make money.
Here is a blatant example of a beauty product reflecting the dominant ideology that raises whiteness to the top of all other races. To be clean is to be white; to be dark is to be dirty. As a result one must change their appearance or adapt some attribute of the idealized Caucasian person to rise above their lower position. Lifestyle is also connected to cleanliness and in turn whiteness. An upper middle class housewife must have everything clean, which is why this character is portrayed in commercials for cleaning products. Or in this case an upper class Indian women must use this beauty product in order to be whiter.
http://www.cracked.com/article/182_8-racist-ads-you-wont-believe-are-from-last-few-years/
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