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There is an ad in India targeting Indian men in which an attractive Indian man, with natural medium skin tone, is sad and alone. Another man approaches him with a tube of skin bleaching cream encouraging him to use it. We are led to believe a week has passed.
With his ‘new and improved’ lighter skin, he walks around draped in beautiful light women. He lives happily ever after because now, he is ‘Fair and Handsome’.

There are a series of ads in which a young Indian girl is with her mother when the girl is discriminated against because of her medium natural skin tone. Her mother takes her home and they immediately mix up a concoction, which is supposedly the product being advertised. The daughter applies the cream and returns to the place she was rejected. Heads turn. In the next scene she hops off of her private jet and is greeted by photographers and people wanting to ask her questions.

There was a very public controversy about an ad campaign that Beyonce was involved in for L’Oreal. It was said that the company digitally lightened her hair and skin and considering the fairness of Beyonce’s skin already, she ended up appearing white. The company denied making such alterations.

http://www.adrants.com/

Then there was an infamous Ford company photo where all the black faces were blatantly changed to white. Ford didn’t deny it. They later apologized.

Many argue that this is due to the legacy of colonization and slavery. The colonial mentality essentially refers to the acceptance, by the colonized, of the cultures of the colonizer as intrinsically more worthy or superior.

Some Indians use bleaching because the darker you are the more you are discriminated against. There’s an example, in an Indian movie, where a man is encouraged to pursue a woman but laughs it off because, in his words “she is untouchable” (due to her skin tone). Asians believe that being porcelain white is an attractive quality so therefore use skin lightening products. People also argue that to be against bleaching is contradictory so long as we find it acceptable for some whiter people to use a booth or the sun to tan. As if people tan with the intention of being seen as more acceptable to Africans and other races in which dark skin tone is natural. They just want to look healthier; as if they’ve been exposed to normal amounts of sun as a pale person can look unhealthy. Some tanners claim that tanning makes their teeth seem whiter, skin more radiant, eyes brighter. It has nothing to do with the feelings of insecurity & self esteem issues that black girls (and also boys) have to deal with.

We live in a society where the lighter you are the more acceptable you are for commercial use. This isn’t to say being white or pale is wrong but that if you are African its wrong to strive for that!

There recently was an issue of Vogue that featured only black models trying to contradict the notion that blackness doesn’t sell. Vogue is a high fashion publication nonetheless and using airbrushing to make skin seem lighter/smoother and make models seem even slimmer is a part of the process when dealing with photo shoots. Even though companies deny doing such things, it’s clear what message is being sent.

When searching for information about skin lightening I found pages and pages of skin lightening/bleaching adverts, discounts and what not. I had to refine my search several times to find anything expressing the dark side (no pun intended) of bleaching and the dangers they present. In that case, let me enlighten you (again, no pun intended).

The USFDA proposed a ban on skin-lightening creams without a prescription back in 2006.
Many bleaching products contain hydroquinone, a bleaching agent which is dangerous in excessive quantities. Keeping in mind, bleaching needs to be done regularly and excessively to have any ‘effectiveness’.
Ironically with MANY skin bleaching products, ceasing to use them and exposure to the sun actually makes you darker!

In Zambia, where skin bleachers are referred to as FBI’s (formerly black individuals) you often find the sad truth for many poor women is that men do prefer lighter skinned women. 

In countries like Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya, importing and manufacturing products that contain skin lightening agents is banned. Of course local concoctions containing hair relaxers creams, lime juice and even chlorine bleach are still widely used.

To me this is all very sad and frustrating. Its not only easier to instill positive self image in our kids but healthier too, since a child, hey even a grownup will go to extreme lengths to make themselves ‘acceptable’ in such a harsh society. Meaning lighter skin equals better jobs, better men, better everything.
Hey… Here is the truth though, read carefully. The only way to attain success without compromising the essence of who you are is to educate yourself, be determined and follow that by action. And hey, if a man don’t want you ‘coz your skin too brown for him & his fantasies include you referring to him as boss man or master then uh, burn that!

I like ‘em all colours but certainly have a soft spot for a dark chocolate man.
Like my box of hair perm says, ‘Dark is lovely’ yall!