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A Korean skincare advertisement is courting controversy in New York after it posed a disturbing question to its potential U.S. customers.
'Do you wanna be white?' the billboard reads, showing an ethereal Korean model with extremely pale skin. The ad is pushing Elisha Coy's new Always Nuddy CC Cream, a tinted moisturizer boasting 'skin-whitening' properties.
Korean culture blog Noonci spotted the ad in Koreatown, Queens, and scathingly labeled it: 'The perfect advertisement. [It] sells an impossible dream while also making its potential consumers feel worse about themselves.'
'When you are applying for university or you’re applying for a job here, you put a picture of yourself on your resume or your application,' she explains.
'It is sort of taken for granted that how you look will often go into the decision of if you get into that university or if you get that job.'
Skin-whitening, while common in many parts of the world, remains a controversial practice closer to home. Several American-based celebrities of color have come under fire over the years for allegedly bleaching their skin, including Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and Beyonce.
Ironically of course, pale-skinned Caucasians from America and Europe have been enthusiastically darkening their skin to gain the highly desirable sun tan since the early 20th Century.In August 2008, for example, cosmetics giant L’Oreal found itself in hot water when it was accused of ‘whitewashing’ Beyonce's skin in an advert by digitally lightening it.
And if there was a single person responsible for popularizing sun tans, it was Coco Chanel, who frequently sunned herself on yachts in the Mediterranean and declared in 1929: 'A girl simply has to be tanned.'
It seems that whatever your natural skin color, there are always different hues to be desired. It remains rare however, in the cosmopolitan city of New York at least, for a beauty brand to be quite so straight-forward in its approach about a lightening treatment.
Elisha Coy did not return MailOnline's request for comment.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2684956/Do-wanna-white-Korean-skincare-brand-sparks-backlash-posing-controversial-question-billboard-New-York.html
'Do you wanna be white?' the billboard reads, showing an ethereal Korean model with extremely pale skin. The ad is pushing Elisha Coy's new Always Nuddy CC Cream, a tinted moisturizer boasting 'skin-whitening' properties.
Korean culture blog Noonci spotted the ad in Koreatown, Queens, and scathingly labeled it: 'The perfect advertisement. [It] sells an impossible dream while also making its potential consumers feel worse about themselves.'
'When you are applying for university or you’re applying for a job here, you put a picture of yourself on your resume or your application,' she explains.
'It is sort of taken for granted that how you look will often go into the decision of if you get into that university or if you get that job.'
Skin-whitening, while common in many parts of the world, remains a controversial practice closer to home. Several American-based celebrities of color have come under fire over the years for allegedly bleaching their skin, including Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and Beyonce.
Ironically of course, pale-skinned Caucasians from America and Europe have been enthusiastically darkening their skin to gain the highly desirable sun tan since the early 20th Century.In August 2008, for example, cosmetics giant L’Oreal found itself in hot water when it was accused of ‘whitewashing’ Beyonce's skin in an advert by digitally lightening it.
And if there was a single person responsible for popularizing sun tans, it was Coco Chanel, who frequently sunned herself on yachts in the Mediterranean and declared in 1929: 'A girl simply has to be tanned.'
It seems that whatever your natural skin color, there are always different hues to be desired. It remains rare however, in the cosmopolitan city of New York at least, for a beauty brand to be quite so straight-forward in its approach about a lightening treatment.
Elisha Coy did not return MailOnline's request for comment.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2684956/Do-wanna-white-Korean-skincare-brand-sparks-backlash-posing-controversial-question-billboard-New-York.html
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