Is Vaselines skin-whitening Facebook app beyond the pale?
NEW DELHI – A Vaseline face-whitening application for Facebook in India has sparked an online controversy and pushed the racially-loaded issue of skin color into the spotlight. Anglo-Dutch skincare group Vaseline launched the application “Transform Your Face On Facebook” to promote its range of skin-lightening products for men, advertised by Bollywood star Shahid Kapoor. It enables users to digitally whiten their profile pictures and remove dark spots — an idea that has evoked a largely negative response in the blogosphere since news broke earlier this week. “Vaseline’s latest marketing campaign, largely targeted at south Asia but accessible globally, will probably make you uncomfortable,” wrote columnist Alexis Madrigal on the website of US magazine The Atlantic. “Modern humans’ desire to make their skin darker or lighter is a rather icky reminder of the pigment-o-cracy that exists in many countries.” The market for skin-lightening cream in India is estimated to be worth about $500 m
