This Indian ad, for Fair and Lovely Ayurvedic "natural fairness" cream, makes it clear that lighter skin is more beautiful. The woman can't get a job at first; notice how she is also dressed in a sari. After her father gets her some Fair and Lovely, we see the stages of her lightening. She then goes back to the store--now wearing Western-style business clothes, like the women who previously rejected her--and gets a job. She also attracts the attention of a light-skinned man. Next we see her new, glamorous life.
So light skin = modernity = beauty = success at work and in love.
Fair and Lovely also has a line of skin lighteners for men called Menz Active. The Fair and Lovely Foundation also awards college scholarships. And provides career advice.
Here's an interesting video where Indian Americans discuss skin tone and respond to the Fair and Lovely ad:
Random fact: the company that owns Fair and Lovely, Hindustan Unilever, is owned (the majority stake, anyway) by Unilever, owner of brands including Dove and Axe.
Thanks to Chris H. for sending this one in!
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Fair and Lovely Skin-Lightening Cream Ad
the social constructedness of social groups
The way in which we divide ourselves in society, the differences that we make salient, the social groups that we invent and label are all social constructions. What makes all things masculine hang together (beer, hunting, being a CEO, eschewing baths), except that they are all things we identify as masculine? What makes limited government and the Defense of Marriage Act seem related, except that we place them both on the right side of the political spectrum? And what makes brains the opposite of beauty, except our insistence that it is so?
The videos on this website for Edina Realty, sent to us by Stacy B., capitalize on our taken-for-granted beliefs about difference of several different kinds by pairing unlikely pairs. They might be useful for illustrating the existence of these divisions and starting a conversation about the social constructedness of social groups.
Here's two examples from youtube:
Thanks Stacy!
NON-DEPRESSING ADVERTISEMENT!
I hear around the blog-o-sphere that we are "depressing" and "increase blood pressure."
Ah ha, I say! Something we like!
Behold a Skittles ad that problematizes the idea of stereotypes in a hilarious and tasty way:
Find more videos like this on AdGabber
Actually, I tried those skittles when I was visiting Gwen. Not exactly tasty. Gwen concurred.
Nonetheless, well done Skittles! (The commercial, not the candy.)
recruiting Women Marines
Kate N. pointed us towards this article in the New York Times today discussing 25 years of Marines recruitment aimed at women. Below is the content of their slide show.
1974:
1976:
1978:
1980:
1984:
1988:
1995:
1995:
2000:
2000:
The article says that the Marines have only recently began a concerted attempt to recruit women. Does anyone have any information about the shift in the racial targeting? Or is that just an artifact of the slide show?
Thanks so much for the tip, Kate!
Also in military recruitment: which military would you join?, the homefront, and war as entertainment.
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Using American Indian Genocide To Spread Anti-Immigrant Sentiment
Marcello sent us this really fascinating example of political propaganda from an anti-immigrant party in Italy. He translated the text as:
They suffered immigrationThe implication is, if they let immigrants into Italy, the current residents will suffer the same fate as American Indians.
Now they live in reserves
Think about it
Marcello writes:
Original post, by Marcello, here. Thanks!Beside the obvious racist concept i think it's quite ironic that they identify
themselves with people they would probably discriminate [against] if they ever
met any american-native people here in italy and the fact that they criminalize
the role that the very same "western civilization" they stand for (against the
"bastardization of culture from muslim heretics", their words, not mine) played
in the american-native genocide.
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The Reification Of Race
Toothpaste and tampons designed with your skin color "in mind." MultiCult Classics says:
OK, Pantene offers products designed with Black women in mind. But Crest, Always and Tampax?
Also, apparently the black that is beautiful is light-skinned, with supposedly "European" facial features. See also: black models that don't look black.UPDATE: In the comments, Brian asked what I mean by "reification." Thanks for the question, Brian! I mean "treating an abstraction as if it were real." And, yep, race isn't real. See racial categories as a historical artifact and check out this great website by the American Anthropological Association.
As I re-read... the contradiction between the two last paragraphs (black models that look white and there's no such thing as black and white) is awesomely reflective of the reality of its race and its simultaneous non-reality!
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Weird Company American Bistro Ad: Intentional or Accidental?
A reader sent me an email about this image, found at Photoshop Disaster. I thought it was an interesting image, but I was also suspicious that it might be a hoax ad--I mean, could someone really fail to notice they'd photoshopped a white head onto a black body? It also occurred to me that maybe it wasn't a photoshopping mistake--maybe it was on purpose. Either way, if the image was real, that would be fascinating--the idea that though a black woman's body might be attractive enough to use in an ad, a black face wouldn't be.
But as I said, I wasn't sure about the image, so I went through the comments from the Photoshop Disaster post and discovered that the creator of the ad said it was nothing like the original and the difference in tones must be due to a crappy camera. He provided a link for the original:
Although not nearly as obvious as the original, her head and body still don't really match, but whatever.
But another commenter pointed out that the ad had been posted on LasVegasVegas.com and, though not as dark as the first one, was definitely darker than the original.
Another commenter, the one who took the photo of the ad and sent it in to Photoshop Disasters, added that the photo she took was exactly what the actual poster that was displayed around Vegas looked like--that the body was in fact that dark. Whether somewhere along the line it had been intentionally darked or there was a printing problem she couldn't say.
I'm not at all sure what's going on here--has the original image been manipulated to make the head/body contrast more obvious? If so, why? Or was it an accident, and in that case, why didn't anyone notice? What do you all think?
Thanks to Peter H. for pointing this image out!
Sex Tourism In Thailand
A reader, Kate K., drew our attention to this 32-minute documentary about sex tourism in Thailand. The entire video is quite interesting! If you scroll over to the 18 minute mark, you can hear the men and the women explain that European men like Thai women specifically because they, unlike European women, submit (my words, not theirs).
If you have any trouble with the embed, here is the documentary on google video.
Thanks so much, Kate!
Using Racial Stereotypes To Remind Women That Housework Is Their Responsibility
This Italian ad for fabric dye draws on the idea that black men are physically and sexually superior to white men:
Whereas this follow-up ad, with a surprising twist, manages to remind us that women are always responsible for the laundry:
I found this first commercial via Elizabeth A who found it at Feministing. Nice find!
Also in women are responsible for cooking and cleaning: women love to clean, homes of the future, what's for dinner, honey?, liberation through quick meals, and my husband's an ass.
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Calling All Social Psychologists
This clip, from the newly televised This American Life, shows what happens when (mostly) black women and (mostly) white men living in racially-segregated Chicago are brought together and the social rules of decorum are suspended. It is highly, highly disturbing. I'd love it if some social psychologists could comment on what we see happening here!
Resident Evil 5: Africa Is the Dark Continent
Here is the trailer for Resident Evil 5, which is not yet on the market:
The player is the sole white person in a dismal, threatening city, apparently in Africa. The locals engage in torture (which we see in some detail) and gleefully cheer at a hanging. At one point the hero is accosted by an angry mob, all of whom just make gutteral, animal-like sounds. In a beleagured voice he tells us he just doesn't know "if it's all worth fighting for. Who knows?" Oh, the white man's burden, indeed!
Thanks once again, Patrick C.!
Tim Wise On The Invention Of The White Race
In this nine and a half minute clip, Tim Wise describes the way in which race was invented by elites in early America in order to divide and conquer the working class... and is still used to do so.
Found here via Alas A Blog.
Modernizing Alvin And The Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks was remade in 2007. Are these chipmunks modernized? Urbanized? Racialized? All of the above?
Gender and military power: Iraq war "nose art"
I found these pictures on the "Shock and Awe" part of the military.com website's entertainment section. All the nose art pictures are submitted by individuals in the military.
While some of the these nose art images are a throwback to World War II nose art of pinup girls and Uncle Sam, I think it is interesting that this style of art is still employed. And in addition to updated images of scantly clad women (often posed on a phallic looking warhead) current nose art shows updates in "patriotic" images (often including the WTC on 9/11) and often appropriates non-violent images for obviously violent purposes.
Here's how the purpose of nose art is defined (from wikipedia)
While begun for practical reasons of identifying friend from foe, the practise evolved, with benefits to morale, in expressing pride, relieving the uniform anonymity of the military, offering comfort by recalling home or peacetime life, and as a kind of fetish against enemy action. The appeal, in part, came from nose art not being officially approved, even when the regulations were not rigorously enforced (or at all).
Nose art would be a great way to start a class discussion on gender and war and on the kind of unwelcoming environment the American military continues to be for women in the service. And what do these images say about how the military perceives its enemies, and how power and dominance is defined (as gendered, ethnicized etc.)?
[See also images from this post on perceptions of military power.]
Romanticizing Colonialism
Rachel from Pop Feminist asked us to consider this new Hermes fashion shoot (see all the pics here). Hermes, as far as I can tell, is a French company gone international. Rachel argues that these images invoke our colonial past. She writes:
These images imply colonialism and glamorize a destructive imperial past (though it's hard to say we're "post colonial"). The choice to make the model Indian wearing British clothing -- at least the riding outfit -- symbolizes the primacy of class power to trump racial "inferiority."So the images draw on the eroticization of the Other (the Indian model, the elephants, and the exotic fabrics and decoration), but one who is subject to a civilizational project (the riding outfit). And this project has, in these images, turned out beautifully indeed! Nice find, Rachel!
Connecting Golf and Sex
The text on the lower photo says, "A golf magazine that raises your blood pressure as well as well as your game." I think this image is interesting because the rest of the people in the magazine were white, but here you have the non-white (maybe African-American) woman in an animal print dress. Portraying non-white women as animalistic is a very common motif when they are sexualized. For another example, see here.
From Vegas Golfer.
What Was That Again About How Un-Racist America Is, Lou?*
In response to Condoleeza Rice's comments that contemporary racial relations reflect an American "birth defect," Lou Dobbs offered a dismissive monologue in which he tried to deny that there is really any problem to talk about. In a truly beautiful moment of irony, he accidentally lets slip a good part of the slur "cotton-pickin'" in reference to Black leaders.
* Title stole from Jessica's post over at feministing.
Also awesomely ironic: Dr. Watson is more black than most.
Picture Perfect Privilege
This is a tough one, but there is something about this image advertising the Metropolitan Museum of Art that just screams privilege. Is it the perfect blonde hair? The perfect white teeth? The neat upper-class masculinity? The turtleneck? I can't quite put my finger on it!
Thanks Jason!
The Neutral And The Marked: A Primer For Your Kids
These images came to us from Dianne who saw this on BoingBoing and dug deeper to find all these great examples!
Illustrating the way in which whiteness is taken-for-granted and others are always, well, other, Plan Toys sells these doll sets labelled "Ethnic Family," "AsianFamily," and, "Doll Family."
They also sell a "farmer" and a "farmer's wife." Dianne notes: "Women don't farm, apparently, they just marry men who do."
"Children can create imaginary stories with the Indian figures, camp, teepee and authentic accessories. They can learn about the traditional American tribe and their lifestye."
Notice how American Indian tribal difference is erased with the phrase "the traditional American tribe." Diane pointed out that the set actually combines teepees and totem poles which were traditions of tribes in the plains and on the west coast respectively.
In the "How to Play" section, it says:
"Children can imagine and tell stories about Red Indians, helping to stimulate their imagination and expanding their horizon."
Yes they really do say "Red Indians."
Diane notices that, just like the doll family is obviously white, "here again, apparently the default child is white, who can 'imagine... stories about Red Indians.'"
Ironically, the company claims that they are "socially & environmentally responsible" and promote "good values."
Thanks so much Diane!
Also in the neutral and the marked: men are people and women are women and from pale to pumped with racial stereotypes.
From Pale To Pumped With Racial Stereotypes
If whiteness is the neutral category (that is, people of color are commonly understood to be raced while white people are not), then to be non-white is to be different in some way. The "bad" difference is the deviant (for example, the "welfare queen," the "thug"), while the "good" difference is the exotic, the interesting, the hip, the cool. Those that do difference in this good way add a certain spice to life. This two-page spread beautifully illustrates the way in which whiteness, since it is neutral (that is, nothing) is sometimes characterized as boring, bland, vanilla, whitebread, while being of color is, quite literally, more exciting.
Notice the way the ad goes from black-and-white to color, from a white model to a model of color (but not too dark-skinned), from straight to curly (but not too curly) hair, from a rather plain dress to one that looks vaguely ethnic, and from awkward standing to dancing (of course).
