This archive report was first published on 8 July 2020.
On a billboard along Mombasa Road in Nairobi, a striking image of a dark-skinned woman appeared, showcasing her skin lightening with each successive photo. The final image depicted her smiling widely, implying that lighter skin made her happy and that one had to be fair-skinned to be lovely.
Similar advertisements have been aired on television, featuring women who fail to get jobs until they apply skin-lightening creams and become fairer-skinned. These advertisements feed racist stereotypes, targeting Africa, Asia, and the Middle East where darker-skinned women are predominantly found.
Studies have shown that in the competitive job market, light-skinned candidates have an added advantage. In fact, a friend of mine shared a shocking story of how his niece, as a child, would pour bleaching agents meant for clothes into her bath water, hoping to lighten her skin.
Media plays a significant role in shaping perceptions of beauty, and advertisements help sustain an industry that continually reproduces negative images of dark-skinned women as consumers of the products advertised. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the market for skin lighteners continues to grow.
Advertisements often make racist assumptions, implying that lighter-skinned people don't need skills to get jobs. No evidence is presented to support these claims, and we are not shown how the creams were produced or tested. Women and girls in Africa are socialized to believe that they must be light-skinned, long-haired, and slim to be beautiful, leading to a multibillion-dollar global skin bleaching industry that preys on their anxiety.
It's time to stop production of these products and challenge the industry's Eurocentric regimes of knowledge. In 2018, Rwanda banned skin bleaching products, many of which contain chemicals linked to cancer, kidney, and liver damage. Africans need to find constructive strategies to develop self-esteem at an early age to counter the obsession with light skin appearance.
