The Great White Hope
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With names like “Fair and Lovely”, “White Beauty” and “Skin Success”, whitening products lend themselves to a fairytale like vision in which the reward for de-racialization is esteem and admiration. In reality, these products are made by divisions of multi-national corporations and are rapidly out-selling popular soft drinks. Lighter skin is an aesthetic that is continually being exported abroad as well as being embedded within most non-western societies. These products reduce darker complexions to a problem that has an easy topical solution. Through their use it seems that any previous self-hating and self-doubt can be simply lightened or erased. To some, whiteness is seen as bringing privilege and advantages not afforded to someone with a darker complexion. All of this furthers the hierarchy of skin color that still finds its way into the collective consciousness of a lot of Caribbean societies.
With names like “Fair and Lovely”, “White Beauty” and “Skin Success”, whitening products lend themselves to a fairytale like vision in which the reward for de-racialization is esteem and admiration. In reality, these products are made by divisions of multi-national corporations and are rapidly out-selling popular soft drinks. Lighter skin is an aesthetic that is continually being exported abroad as well as being embedded within most non-western societies. These products reduce darker complexions to a problem that has an easy topical solution. Through their use it seems that any previous self-hating and self-doubt can be simply lightened or erased. To some, whiteness is seen as bringing privilege and advantages not afforded to someone with a darker complexion. All of this furthers the hierarchy of skin color that still finds its way into the collective consciousness of a lot of Caribbean societies.
