10629: Commercializing Colorism, Continuing Cultural Cluelessness.

 

Adweek published a perspective from Carta Head of Inclusion, Equity and Impact Mita Mallick, who provided color commentary on colorism. On the one hand, there’s nothing new here. On the flip side, it’s outrageous that the subject must be addressed regularly in Adland. Colonialism and Caucasianism trump colorism as a conversation cue.

 

Marketers Need to Fight the Ways Colorism Shows Up in Our Industry

 

Colorism has significantly impacted my life, and I am not alone

 

By Mita Mallick

 

Colorism still permeates so much of what we do in the marketing ecosystem. From who we cast to the products we create, many marketers knowingly or unknowingly cling to the white standards of beauty: blonde hair, blue eyes, light skin. It’s an archaic standard that tells the rest of us we don’t belong, this brand is not meant for us.

 

As a marketer who’s a dark-skinned woman, I have seen colorism show up too many times to count. Earlier in my career, I didn’t always have the language, the power or the mental energy to confront colorism head on. But now I know I have a responsibility to educate and the power to help brands make different decisions. We need more marketers to come to this realization and be a catalyst for change.

 

Start educating your teams on colorism

 

Colorism upholds and values white standards of beauty and is a product of racism. It continues to be pervasive, whether we’re aware of it or not. The preference for lighter skin over darker skin is still prevalent in white, Black, Latinx and Asian communities and is not often openly discussed.

 

As a South Asian woman, I was aware from a very young age that I was smart but not pretty—I was too dark to be pretty. I was bombarded with recipes for homemade turmeric face masks, brightening, lightening and whitening creams and lotions, and endless tips and reminders for staying out of the sun so I wouldn’t get any darker. Colorism has significantly impacted my life, and I am not alone.

 

According to Web MD, a recent U.S. survey of Latinx adults revealed that colorism had significantly impacted their lives as well. 62% believed that having darker skin hurts their ability to get ahead in the U.S., and 59% believed having lighter skin was an advantage. Over 50% said their skin color impacts their daily life.

 

For marketers, you can’t stop colorism if you aren’t aware of it or don’t understand it. Educate your teams on what colorism means and how it can show up in our marketing ecosystem. Be open, honest and brave about how colorism could be impacting your creation of content, products and campaigns, or members of your team.

 

Stop casting racially ambiguous models

 

Historically, as the demographics of the U.S. shifted, casting racially ambiguous models became a way to try and resonate with multicultural audiences without alienating white (“general market”) consumers. I can recall a number of occasions where I was told to put “racially ambiguous” on the creative brief to the agency. “Neutral,” one creative director said to me, justifying the selection of images to our brand team.

 

This was in response to me pushing back on our focus on racially ambiguous models. “We want a neutral look, not too ethnic. So that means the hair, the nose, the eyes, the skin, it all matters. Remember, a look that will be desirable and appealing to all.”

 

As marketers, we can’t fight colorism if we won’t stop casting and using the language of “racially ambiguous.” We must ask ourselves what it means for someone to look too ethnic and what biases we are holding onto. We have the power and responsibility to include darker-skinned models and portray them as desirable, appealing and resonant with our consumers as they actually are.

 

Start being inclusive of darker skin tones

 

In the U.S. alone, multicultural buying power is now more than $5 trillion, which includes Black, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, Indigenous, multiracial and multiethnic communities. Inclusion is a driver of business, and those brands who continue to ignore these communities will be left behind.

 

As marketers, it’s our job to advocate and be inclusive of darker skin tones. This means intentionally casting and featuring dark-skinned models, actors and influencers in your content and programming. This means also having products that work on darker skin tones—in the beauty world, not just checking the box with foundations but also having eyeshadows, lip glosses, blushes and more that work on darker skin tones.

 

And don’t default to stock photography; be intentional about who is behind the camera and capture product shots that show darker-skinned hands.

 

We have a responsibility to fight colorism and be advocates for societal change. We must challenge our industry standards and do better for the next generation of marketers and for our consumers.

15928: Wunderman Thompson India Sells Shower Gel In Dirty Style.

 

Wunderman Thompson India shat out this Yardley Floral Essence Shower Gel commercial, which is creepy in its leering camerawork and light-skinned casting. The responsible creative team should be sent to the showers.

 

15142: Saatchi & Saatchi Promotes White Supremacy, Er, White Power.

Saatchi & Saatchi in Thailand created an Oral-B campaign featuring the tagline, “White is Great.” Brilliant. Oh, and the concept presents light-skinned casting too.

 

 

 

14936: Publicis Powering Up On Prejudiced Pictures…?

Publicis in Nigeria is responsible for this ICellpower campaign, which might draw criticism for making its point by depicting the dictators darkening over time…

14804: Light—And Light-Skinned—Reading With Penguin Books.

This Penguin Audiobooks campaign from India is troubling on two White fronts:

First, is the campaign implying that the audience would only be interested in hearing/reading literature from White authors?

Second, the casting of light-skinned talent is a sadly repetitive story.

14759: The Vagina Monochromatic Monologues In India.

This gynecological health awareness advertisement from India is disturbing not just for its conceptual awfulness—which seemingly took inspiration from Summer’s Eve—but also for the decision to depict the Whitest skin possible. Hey, racism shouldn’t be taboo either.

14736: By The Light Of The Silvery—And Whitened—Moon.

This Egyptian campaign for Pure Beauty tells women they can shine like the moon—thanks to skin whitening cream. Pure Beauty is pure bullshit.

14694: Unilever Promotes The Beauty Of Being White Worldwide.

This Indonesian commercial promotes Pond’s White Beauty for Unilever. Is Unilever still hyping the social benefits of being fair and lovely?

13908: Unilever In The Black.

Advertising Age reported Unilever is acquiring Sundial Brands. In branding terms, it means Dove and SheaMoisture will be sharing the same dressing room. To check the culturally clueless scorecards, Unilever and Dove have been offending for years, while SheaMoisture only recently offended the masses. Still, the move makes Unilever the home of bizarro diversity, where beauty standards will now range from Black to skin-whitening and everything between.

Risking New Backlash, Dove Acquires SheaMoisture

By Jack Neff

Two marketers that faced racially charged social-media smackdowns this year over their ads are joining forces: Unilever, marketer of Dove, announced Monday that it’s agreed to acquire Sundial Brands, marketer of SheaMoisture.

Dove faced a wave of social-media criticism last month over a Facebook video for its body wash that appeared to show a black woman turning into a white woman. Sundial faced a similar backlash over ads in April that showed SheaMoisture hair-care products being used by white women, which was seen by many on social media as moving the brand away from its core African-American consumers.

The companies didn’t address those controversies in announcing the deal, but did reveal steps that could help thwart more backlash. This includes a $50 million New Voices Fund to back women-of-color entrepreneurs, with a goal of attracting an additional $50 milliion from outside investors.

Sundial will continue as a standalone unit within the global packaged-goods behemoth, led by founder and CEO Richelieu Dennis.

The companies didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Bonin Bough, who became chief growth and marketing officer of Sundial last month, will remain in that role. Bough is a prominent African-American marketing executive, alum of Mondelez and PepsiCo, and host of the Cleveland Hustles show on CNBC. Reached by phone Monday, Bough declined to comment.

In announcing the deal, Unilever did say that Esi Eggleston Bracey, one of the most prominent African-American executives in the beauty business over the past decade, would join the company in January as executive VP and chief operating officer of Unilever’s North American personal care business. Bracey left Coty last year, where she was president of the consumer beauty business, and previously headed Procter & Gamble Co.’s global cosmetics business. She’ll succeed Tamara Rogers in that role. Unilever and Rogers didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on her next move.

In reporting the news on Monday, Essence said the deal raises “questions about how big general-market brands influence black-owned companies. Similar sentiments were felt when L’Oreal USA bought Lisa Price’s Carol’s Daughter in 2014.” But the site said Dennis remaining at the helm of Sundial brings “promise that the company will positively influence Unilever’s venture into the multicultural space.”

The deal so far hasn’t stoked any major social-media backlash.

The companies didn’t disclose terms or sales. Essence reported Sundial is expected to generate $240 million in sales this year. Besides SheaMoisture, Sundial also markets the Nubian Heritage, Madam C.J. Walker and Nyakio brands.

“The Sundial team has built differentiated and on-trend premium brands serving multicultural and millennial consumers,” said Unilever President, North America Kees Kruythoff in a statement, where he likened Sundial to a portfolio of “purpose-driven” companies that includes Ben & Jerry’s and Seventh Generation.

It was general-market brands like Dove and P&G’s Pantene, which in recent years launched products that go after SheaMoisture’s base by better addressing hair-care needs of women of color, that appeared to prompt SheaMoisture to respond by reaching out to white women with its April campaign from VaynerMedia. Those ads were widely criticized on social media and pulled the same day.

“We should make sure our core African-American consumer always feels represented in everything we do,” Dennis said at the time, “because we are not moving away from her.”

Dove’s controversial Facebook ad was meant to show Dove body wash is for every type of skin. It was decried as racist due to a 3-second snippet showing a black woman taking off her top to reveal a white woman underneath. Unilever apologized and dropped the ad.

Dove found a defender in Brad Jakeman, the outgoing PepsiCo executive who faced his own social-media thrashing in April over an ad featuring Kendall Jenner. Speaking at the Ad Age Next conference earlier this month, Jakeman cited Dove’s years of doing things to promote positive self-images for women.

“Somebody extracts just a few seconds out of a much longer piece of content, and suddenly the world is prepared to believe, ‘Ah ha! Now we have a penetrating insight into the darker soul of Dove.’ That is terrible that we live in a society that does that,” he said.

13623: Girls Gone Wildlife.

This campaign from India boasts that jeweler P.N. Gadgil & Sons has been creating art since 1832. Okay, but the art in these advertisements seem to be perpetuating the objectification of women—and fair-skinned women to boot.

13330: Miami Ad School’s Diverted Diversity.

This patronizing pap from Miami Ad School in India is messed up on so many levels. First, it appears that the students are being taught to embrace diverted diversity versus true diversity, which is downright criminal. Plus, it’s obscenely ironic that the White women being defended in the video will land advertising agency jobs more easily than the student creators—at least in the U.K. and U.S. Second, why are students in India working on projects for American products with imagery like the New York City Marathon? Are the students being told that White advertising is the gold standard? Third, it’s pathetic for folks from India to be lecturing on gender equality when the country struggles with skin-tone bias, domestic violence and rape. Oh, and the overwhelming majority of the idiots responsible for the Always video are men.

13175: Unilever’s Universal Lies.

Adweek reported Unilever is using its Dove brand to address beauty ideals for women in India. Um, Unilever is behind the Fair and Lovely skin-lightening product, which makes the Dove effort a fairly lovely act of hypocrisy.

Dove’s Latest Mission? Revamping Beauty Ideals in India

Brand hopes to spark change with new short film

By Kristina Monllos

Dove’s got a new short film, Let’s Break the Rules of Beauty, which champions a more inclusive approach to beauty for Indian women.

The 50-second short, from Indian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker, Pan Nalin, showcases a variety of women whose look and style doesn’t necessarily fit the Indian beauty ideal of “youthful looks, fair skin, long black flowing hair and a trim figure.”

“[This] is the first Dove Masterbrand campaign created specifically for India,” said Victoria Sjardin, senior global brand director, Dove Masterbrand. “India is a country growing and evolving at a rapid pace and yet the traditional beauty ideal remains narrow and restrictive. In fact, our new research suggests 76 percent of Indian women believe that in today’s society, it is critical to meet certain beauty standards.”

According to the brand’s research, the pressure to comply with Indian beauty ideals comes from external, traditional and societal factors and 80 percent of India’s 631 million women believe that they need to look a certain way to do well in life.

“This campaign is designed to encourage India to embrace its diversity in beauty, and spark change against the variety of pressures and influences that are keeping a narrow beauty ideal alive,” said Sjardin. “Our hope is to genuinely start a conversation about expanding the beauty ideal and embracing the varieties of beauty that come from a country with 631 million women, 29 states and 22 languages.”

The digital campaign isn’t the brand’s first effort in India. Hoping to raise the self-esteem of young women in India the brand launched the Dove Self-Esteem Project in 2014. It has already educated 300,000 young people to date and, according to Sjardin, the brand aspires to reach 2.65 million young people by 2020.

13004: Let It Snowz.

From The New York Times…

‘Skin Whitener’ Ad Sparks Criticism in Thailand

By Katie Rogers

A Thai beauty company that sells skin-whitening products pulled a recent video advertisement after viewers were offended that the ad showed an actress in blackface and compared her unfavorably to a light-skinned woman.

The ad was for Snowz, a skin-whitening pill manufactured by the company Seoul Secret. Viewers were incensed that Cris Horwang, a Thai actress, appeared in blackface. Viewers also took offense at other parts of the video, especially the slogan “You just need to be white to win,” Reuters reported.

On Friday, Seoul Secret published an apology on Facebook and said that the company was pulling the video and all related advertisements.

“Our company did not have any intention to convey discriminatory or racist messages,” the statement read. “What we intended to convey was that self-improvement in terms of personality, appearance, skills, and professionality is crucial.”

The Asia-Pacific region is the largest market in the world for skin lighteners, and the global market for such products is projected to become a business worth $23 billion by 2020, according to a 2015 report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., a market research firm. For years, companies have aggressively marketed whiteness as the de facto beauty standard in Asian cultures. Words like “radiance” and “perfect” have been used by Olay and L’Oréal to sell to Asian markets.

Ads for products including supplements, drinks and creams can come with blunt and even invasive messaging: A 2012 ad promised that a product would make women’s intimate areas “bright and translucent.”

But Thai companies in particular have been criticized for ridiculing woman and young girls who have dark skin. In Thai culture, dark skin is associated with farmers, a lower-status group of people who have been darkened by the sun. White skin signifies a higher class and beauty standard. The craze for a lighter complexion has caused women to resort to unregulated and illegal products that promise a brighter tone but damage their skin.

In recent years, Thai advertisements have been criticized for being overtly racist. In 2013, the Thai company Vernena was accused of mocking people of African descent for an ad that featured a woman who used a berry drink to change her appearance from dark- to light-skinned. The ad showed an evolution from her old self compared with the African appearance and accent of a man who appears to be her father.

That same year, Citra Thailand, a subsidiary of Unilever, apologized after it offered “scholarship” cash prizes to college students who used a product to lighten their skin, according to The Chiang Rai Times, a Thai newspaper. In the past, the company had published ads that showed a young girl finding acceptance after using a whitening lotion.

On Friday, people on social media continued to debate Seoul Secrets’ apology for its contribution to marketing misstep history.

“Don’t buy,” wrote one critic. “Such a lame excuse.”

Others were not convinced the company had done anything wrong.

“I do not see a problem with your video,” another person wrote. “If people do not like skin whitening, just don’t do it.”

12482: Washington Scandal…?

From USA TODAY…

Kerry Washington ‘InStyle’ cover raises eyebrows

By Maria Puente, USA TODAY

Does Kerry Washington’s latest magazine cover, on InStyle’s March issue, make her look too light?

Once again, social media lit up Thursday with another controversy over the intersection of beauty, race and Photoshopping in the media, with Scandal star Washington as the latest case-in-point.

The new cover has her brightly lit in a white, shoulder-baring dress, hands on hips, her hair fan-swept in that new artfully disheveled long-bob style.

Does her skin tone look lighter than she really is? Maybe it depends on your perspective.

Not that she was perturbed. She was “THRILLED” with the photo, she said on Instagram. “So honored. And crazy excited,” she added.

But some of her fans were not.

“I get that you’re happy to be on the cover of @InStyleMagazine ... but WHO IN THE HECK is on this cover? #Scandal #Photoshop#BadPhotoshop,” posted isthatkeyon under the photo.

“dang. why’d they do that? you don’t need photoshop,” added tamhasty.

InStyle was quick to respond with a statement denying that Washington’s skin was deliberately lightened.

“While we did not digitally lighten Kerry’s skin tone, our cover lighting has likely contributed to this concern. We understand that this has resulted in disappointment and hurt. We are listening, and the feedback has been valuable. We are committed to ensuring that this experience has a positive influence on the ways in which we present all women going forward,” the magazine said, according to the Associated Press.

Washington approved and tweeted her thanks:

These cover contretemps are not new, not even for Washington. Lucky magazine was accused of manipulating Washington’s image for a December/January cover in 2013 that some fans also declared unrecognizable.

12351: Highlighting 14 In 2014.

It wasn’t easy to find 14 highlights in the advertising industry for 2014, but here goes (in no particular order):

1. Artist/Writer/Recovering Adman Lowell Thompson marched on.

2. The Marcus Graham Project Infographic exposed the exclusive state of affairs on Madison Avenue.

3. Pam El was drafted by the NBA as the league’s new CMO.

4. Dawn Hudson was drafted by the NFL as the league’s new CMO.

5. Jerry Seinfeld dissed the advertising industry at the CLIO Awards—unintentionally proving to be prophetic with his ultra-lame Acura campaign featuring a Black guy.

6. The Advertising Standards Council of India created mandates barring spots that portray dark-skinned people negatively.

7. Roy Eaton delivered the best 3.5 minutes you’ll spend all year.

8A and 8B. Issa Rae and Living a Creative Life enlivened Here Are All The Black People.

9. Commonground/MGS was unveiled as a new holding group comprised of eight independent, minority-owned agencies.

10. Ogilvy & Mather South Africa CEO Abey Mokgwatsane examined three macro drivers contributing towards a very vibrant South African ad industry: talent diversity, digital migration and the changing role of South Africa as a gateway to the rest of Africa.

11. MediaCom UK CEO Karen Blackett was named “most influential Black person in Britain” on the Powerlist 2015.

12. David&Goliath President Brian Dunbar declared, “L.A. is a very culturally diverse city and I think the cultural makeup of the agencies reflects that. It certainly does at David&Goliath. I see a lot more diversity here than I have at other agencies in my career and I think that helps make the work more interesting.”

13. Despite a rough year, Steve Stoute and Translation rebounded by winning the NBA shootout.

14. Team Epiphany may be the most diverse enterprise in the advertising industry.

12032: Rethinking The Fairest Of All.

From The Wall Street Journal…

Will New Ad Guidelines Change India’s Light-Skin Obsession?

By Shanoor Seervai

A young woman in an Indian television commercial airing now is reluctant to be caught on camera as her fair-skinned friends take selfies at a café.

“In a moment, I’ll be photo ready,” says the woman, shown applying Procter & Gamble Co.’s Olay Natural White cream. The announcer intones: “From the first use, get an instant glow. With seven fairness benefits.”

Ads for skin-lightening cosmetics have for years played on some Indians’ insecurities about their skin tone, helping create a $600-million-year-business in the South Asian country.

Some of the most cringe-worthy commercials, however, may soon be disappearing. India’s ad watchdog this week issued new guidelines barring spots that portray dark-skinned people negatively.

The Advertising Standards Council of India says people with dark skin shouldn’t be shown as “unsuccessful in any aspect of life,” especially “in relation to being attractive to the opposite sex, matrimony, job placement, promotions and other prospects.”

“Because of the proliferation of products — more than a dozen brands and even for men — there was a need to say something specific about ads not being disparaging to people with darker skin,” said Partha Rakshit, the ad council’s chairman.

Mr. Rakshit said ads by the big consumer-products firms, including Hindustan Unilever, had become less pointed lately. But problems with some advertisers and a rising number of complaints by offended consumers prompted the new guidelines.

Procter & Gamble said it agrees with and will comply with the new guidelines.

Hindustan Unilever, 52%-owned by Unilever PLC, said it was consulted in the creation of the new guidelines and will comply with them. The company sells skin lighteners under its Fair & Lovely brand. “We are fully committed to these guidelines,” a company spokesman said.

Advertisers that fail to comply with the guidelines can be forced to take commercials off cable television under India’s cable-TV rules. The new guidelines apply to regular advertisements and infomercials, which critics say are more likely to offer negative portrayals of darker-skinned people.

So-called fairness creams, skin bleaches and lotions have flourished in India. Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and cricket heartthrob Virat Kohli are both big promoters of men’s fairness products.

An Indian pharmaceutical company even markets a feminine hygiene product called Clean & Dry Intimate Wash, which it says “restores discolored skin, giving it a fair, glowing look.”

A commercial for that product depicts a woman being ignored by a man. But after she starts using the wash — the results of which are illustrated with a drawing showing shadows disappearing from a woman’s crotch — he can’t keep his hands off her.

A spokesman for the company declined to comment on whether the product whitens skin.

The preference for lighter skin leads men and women to boast of fair skin in matrimonial ads in the hope of securing a match. “V. fair handsome govt. doctor seeks suitable bride” and “slim and fair bride wanted” are some recent examples in ads in the Hindu newspaper.

Nandita Das, a Bollywood actress who is the face of the Dark Is Beautiful campaign that battles prejudice against people with dark skin, says the new ad guidelines are a step in the right direction to rein in an industry that has created a “dark-skin complex” to make money.

“Too many young girls and now boys are losing their confidence,” because Indian society and advertising glorifies lighter skin tones, she said in an emailed statement.

Advertising executives say that the new guidelines aren’t likely to hurt sales of whitening products.

“I have always believed you can sell a beauty product to a woman without making her feel less beautiful,” said Zenobia Pithawalla, executive creative director at advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather. “When you sell a fairness product, what you are really selling is hope.”

Ms. Pithawalla said the guidelines say that dark skin shouldn’t be shown as a problem. “However nothing stops a brand from making ‘skin darkening’ a concern,” she said, referring to darkening from sun exposure or pollution.

In a 2010 ad for Hindustan Unilever’s Fair & Lovely, a young woman looks dejected after losing out in a dance audition. Her victorious — and fair-complexioned — rival offers some advice: Use skin-whitening cream.

“You’re so talented, why should you be behind the curtain?” the winning dancer says in the commercial from 2010, handing over a tube of Fair & Lovely lotion. “Here, take this.”

Corrections and Amplifications: A previous version of this article said the new guidelines for fairness ads do not apply to infomercials. On Thursday the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting told broadcasters they would apply to infomercials as well.

12015: Ban Fairness In Advertising.

Digiday reported on “The crazy skin-lightening ads that have been banned in India.” According to the article:

On Tuesday, the Advertising Standards Council of India, a self-regulated advertiser group, issued a new set of guidelines that will ban all ads that depict those with darker skin as being inferior in any way.

For years, advertisers of skin-lightening creams and other products have shown people — mostly women — with dark skin as having problems when it comes to finding jobs, getting married and generally being accepted by society. The makers of these ads include behemoths like Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and P&G. The so-called “fairness” cream industry in India was estimated at $432 million a year and growing by 18 percent annually in 2010, by AC Nielsen.

“Advertising should not communicate any discrimination as a result of skin color,” read the new ASCI guidelines, and the expression of the model in the ads should not be “negative in a way which is widely seen as unattractive, unhappy, depressed or concerned.”

Former ASCI chairman Bharat Patel told business news site Live Mint that all advertisers have to comply with the ASCI rules — both in television and print.

Digiday also posted four classic commercials for skin-lightening products.

11819: News In Black & White.

At the grio, a story titled, “Skin-bleaching singer Dencia slams Lupita Nyong’o for signing deal with Lancome,” appeared alongside an ad for Meladerm.

11411: Beyoncé Talks True About Skin.

Anybody else think it’s odd that L’Oréal would run this True Match™ commercial starring Beyoncé talking about her “mosaic” skin—after the cosmetics company was accused of lightening the star’s features?

10686: Eyeing Stereotypes.

Why do these ads from India depict dark-skinned people as the needy ones who cannot afford eye care?

From Ads of the World.