Painting the town white
April 4, 2005 | 12:00am
Spending time in front of the television over the weekend gave me an opportunity to observe marketing campaigns in action, and likewise get updated with what is new in TV advertising. Surfing local free channels proved very revealing, not so much about the level of sophistication of the marketer, but more so about the values consumers seem to hold in high esteem (or, at least, consider their priority).
If an extraterrestrial being were to land smack in the center of Metro Manila and, upon exiting his spacecraft, came face-to-face with the giant Mercury Drug-sponsored screen hovering above Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, he (or it) may get the impression that the human species is consumed by the need to 1) preen the hair so that it almost levitates by itself ("ang gaan ng feeling") and was totally freed of knots and split-ends ("tangle-free"); 2) there was a mad rush to attain the whitest, fairest skin with the use of various produce, including licorice, lemon, papaya, avocado – a whole cornucopia of nature’s harvests.
(In case you were wondering, our obsession with clean laundry and laundry soaps, hair care products, body and facial soaps, cell phones, instant noodles and fast foods topped off my top five most advertised products on local TV, and not necessarily in that order. This is, of course, far from scientific, and is merely the result of a couple of hours of haphazard remote-zapper surfing engaged in during the rare occasion that I had nothing to do.)
Vanity products, in the form of cosmetics and personal grooming products, do not surprise me as the most heavily marketed of consumer goods. Worldwide, the global cosmetics and personal care industry is expected to make in excess of $145 billion, according to the Global Cosmetic Industry Magazine press kit. Of that total amount, skin care, including skin whiteners’ account for $31 billion.
Shampoos have been a mainstay in the vanity menu for a long time; the local TV industry may not have flourished had deodorants, shampoos and laundry detergents not filled in a good amount of spots during its fledgling days (Gard with ZO7, Mum Deodorant and Superwheel brands immediately come to mind). But skin whiteners are relatively new, their popularity having zoomed only in the last five to 10 years. Not that the concept of skin bleaching is new. And, contrary to misguided flag-waving patriots’ accusations of having a fixation on anything colonial (including, they say, a warped concept of beauty as Caucasian, aquiline-nosed and white-skinned), the desire to have light-colored skin is, practically universal.
Skin bleaching has been an option for First World consumers since the 1950s, when hydroquinone, a chemical used for the production of dyes, paints, motor fuels and for processing black-and-white photographs, was marketed as a topical bleaching agent to diminish age spots and scars. For "people of color" (the politically-correct, generic term for non-whites), skin bleaching agents were already being sold as skin formulas, not having to hide behind claims to reduce liver spots and stretch marks. The African-American population was already resorting to hair-straightening formulas, peroxide-blonde hair dyes and skin bleachers way before these products became a fad in Asia (although Japanese geishas may have preceded the modern skin lightening fad by centuries).
Here at home, before papaya-enriched soaps became the rage, bleaching soaps were already enjoying quiet but profitable sales from pharmacy retail stores. I naively used to scoff at this tenacious sub-market, courageously facing the ire of supposedly enlightened libertarians (including myself) who railed against any hint of prejudice against the brown race ("brown is beautiful").
A cursory check on Google, however, reveals the extent and popularity of skin whiteners all over the world. The peoples of Africa have been bleaching their skins as a sort of passport to social acceptance to their light-skinned castes. In the Asian region, the cosmetic industry reports of Indonesia, Thailand, China and Malaysia reveal a growing demand for skin whiteners, a development highlighted and flagged as the significant area for growth by the STAT-USA, a research unit of the US & Foreign Commercial Service and the US Department of State (http://www.stat-usa.gov/).
The reports indicate that the Chinese are only beginning to splurge on cosmetics (including skin whiteners), but with a base of billions of potential customers, they comprise the biggest vanity market in the world. The Moslem population of Indonesia does not seem to have any problems with cosmetics and skin bleach, reporting a sales of $71.6 million in 2002 (compared to $225 million for the Philippines, $620 million for Thailand and $352 million for Malaysia). In all these countries, skin whitening products make up a good portion of personal grooming sales and is the fastest growing market sub-segment.
Another search on Google reveals how Filipino-made papaya-enriched skin whitening products are lording it over in the online array of skin products. Following a thread in an online forum, a voluminous series of virtual conversations with people from the US (mostly African-Americans), Africa and Canada, Likas papaya soap seem to be the most popular Pinoy product ordered online. Users shared varying results, with a general opinion that, perhaps, it worked best on Asian skin, not on darker skin. Which made me wonder if the online sale of papaya soaps may be the most promising export product of this country, next only to bananas and computer chips.
Clearly, there is universal appeal to light-colored skin (come to think of it, have you ever heard anyone wish they had black – not tan – skin? "Ooh, I want to have black skin so that I would look good in my evening gown or my suit!"). Of course, there is nothing wrong with dark skin – brown, black, yellow or violet. But, belated this realization may be for me, a lighter complexion does gloss over skin imperfections better than a dark complexion. Patchy and irregular pigmentation and scars are less apparent. A lighter complexion seems to impress as being neater.
What does this say about our colonial mindset, our subconscious prejudices against other races and our obsession with our looks? The naysayers may find it unconscionable that a people mired in great poverty should make their priority the superficial and hedonistic desire to look good. Every civilized person in varying degrees, however, practices good grooming and proper hygiene. The most cynical among us would comb his hair before facing the world in the morning. That could be the extent of his vanity (he must have some of it, otherwise, he should just have left his hair unkempt and his clothes in crumpled glory). For others, it could include a touch of makeup and designer clothes. Still for others, a streak of blonde hair to brighten a dark mop, and a nip and tuck of cosmetic surgery to smoothen out the wrinkles. A light complexion is just another variation to the faddishness of how current society defines what looks good.
As I watched the commercials across the channels (darn these inane programs that kept interrupting my enjoyment of the ads), no less than the venerable brand Safeguard drove home the inevitable message: the appeal of fairer skin is what the great majority of consumers are looking for: Safeguard now has a papaya-enriched version (does the Safeguard "conscience" now tell you to have whiter skin as well?). What used to be a hush-hush beauty ritual confined within the inner sanctum of Filipino women’s boudoirs is now a family-rated concern and a common tao’s obsession.
In the meantime, makers of these products are raking in the profits, painting the town (and the world) white, and spreading the gospel of white to a global market, continually searching for that one true product which will, finally, irrefutably turn skin whiter than the other guy’s. Skin whitening, whether we like it or not, is now a highly profitable industry, what with an army of dermatologists bleaching faces, underarms, crotches, knees and liver spots the world over, and a battalion of chemists and savvy marketers pushing papaya soaps to billions of vain men and women. What’s next? A global population looking like Michael Jackson? Heaven forbid!
You may email bongo@vasia.com or bongo@campaignsandgrey.net for any comments, questions or suggestions. Thank you for communicating.
If an extraterrestrial being were to land smack in the center of Metro Manila and, upon exiting his spacecraft, came face-to-face with the giant Mercury Drug-sponsored screen hovering above Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, he (or it) may get the impression that the human species is consumed by the need to 1) preen the hair so that it almost levitates by itself ("ang gaan ng feeling") and was totally freed of knots and split-ends ("tangle-free"); 2) there was a mad rush to attain the whitest, fairest skin with the use of various produce, including licorice, lemon, papaya, avocado – a whole cornucopia of nature’s harvests.
(In case you were wondering, our obsession with clean laundry and laundry soaps, hair care products, body and facial soaps, cell phones, instant noodles and fast foods topped off my top five most advertised products on local TV, and not necessarily in that order. This is, of course, far from scientific, and is merely the result of a couple of hours of haphazard remote-zapper surfing engaged in during the rare occasion that I had nothing to do.)
Vanity products, in the form of cosmetics and personal grooming products, do not surprise me as the most heavily marketed of consumer goods. Worldwide, the global cosmetics and personal care industry is expected to make in excess of $145 billion, according to the Global Cosmetic Industry Magazine press kit. Of that total amount, skin care, including skin whiteners’ account for $31 billion.
Shampoos have been a mainstay in the vanity menu for a long time; the local TV industry may not have flourished had deodorants, shampoos and laundry detergents not filled in a good amount of spots during its fledgling days (Gard with ZO7, Mum Deodorant and Superwheel brands immediately come to mind). But skin whiteners are relatively new, their popularity having zoomed only in the last five to 10 years. Not that the concept of skin bleaching is new. And, contrary to misguided flag-waving patriots’ accusations of having a fixation on anything colonial (including, they say, a warped concept of beauty as Caucasian, aquiline-nosed and white-skinned), the desire to have light-colored skin is, practically universal.
Skin bleaching has been an option for First World consumers since the 1950s, when hydroquinone, a chemical used for the production of dyes, paints, motor fuels and for processing black-and-white photographs, was marketed as a topical bleaching agent to diminish age spots and scars. For "people of color" (the politically-correct, generic term for non-whites), skin bleaching agents were already being sold as skin formulas, not having to hide behind claims to reduce liver spots and stretch marks. The African-American population was already resorting to hair-straightening formulas, peroxide-blonde hair dyes and skin bleachers way before these products became a fad in Asia (although Japanese geishas may have preceded the modern skin lightening fad by centuries).
Here at home, before papaya-enriched soaps became the rage, bleaching soaps were already enjoying quiet but profitable sales from pharmacy retail stores. I naively used to scoff at this tenacious sub-market, courageously facing the ire of supposedly enlightened libertarians (including myself) who railed against any hint of prejudice against the brown race ("brown is beautiful").
A cursory check on Google, however, reveals the extent and popularity of skin whiteners all over the world. The peoples of Africa have been bleaching their skins as a sort of passport to social acceptance to their light-skinned castes. In the Asian region, the cosmetic industry reports of Indonesia, Thailand, China and Malaysia reveal a growing demand for skin whiteners, a development highlighted and flagged as the significant area for growth by the STAT-USA, a research unit of the US & Foreign Commercial Service and the US Department of State (http://www.stat-usa.gov/).
The reports indicate that the Chinese are only beginning to splurge on cosmetics (including skin whiteners), but with a base of billions of potential customers, they comprise the biggest vanity market in the world. The Moslem population of Indonesia does not seem to have any problems with cosmetics and skin bleach, reporting a sales of $71.6 million in 2002 (compared to $225 million for the Philippines, $620 million for Thailand and $352 million for Malaysia). In all these countries, skin whitening products make up a good portion of personal grooming sales and is the fastest growing market sub-segment.
Another search on Google reveals how Filipino-made papaya-enriched skin whitening products are lording it over in the online array of skin products. Following a thread in an online forum, a voluminous series of virtual conversations with people from the US (mostly African-Americans), Africa and Canada, Likas papaya soap seem to be the most popular Pinoy product ordered online. Users shared varying results, with a general opinion that, perhaps, it worked best on Asian skin, not on darker skin. Which made me wonder if the online sale of papaya soaps may be the most promising export product of this country, next only to bananas and computer chips.
Clearly, there is universal appeal to light-colored skin (come to think of it, have you ever heard anyone wish they had black – not tan – skin? "Ooh, I want to have black skin so that I would look good in my evening gown or my suit!"). Of course, there is nothing wrong with dark skin – brown, black, yellow or violet. But, belated this realization may be for me, a lighter complexion does gloss over skin imperfections better than a dark complexion. Patchy and irregular pigmentation and scars are less apparent. A lighter complexion seems to impress as being neater.
What does this say about our colonial mindset, our subconscious prejudices against other races and our obsession with our looks? The naysayers may find it unconscionable that a people mired in great poverty should make their priority the superficial and hedonistic desire to look good. Every civilized person in varying degrees, however, practices good grooming and proper hygiene. The most cynical among us would comb his hair before facing the world in the morning. That could be the extent of his vanity (he must have some of it, otherwise, he should just have left his hair unkempt and his clothes in crumpled glory). For others, it could include a touch of makeup and designer clothes. Still for others, a streak of blonde hair to brighten a dark mop, and a nip and tuck of cosmetic surgery to smoothen out the wrinkles. A light complexion is just another variation to the faddishness of how current society defines what looks good.
As I watched the commercials across the channels (darn these inane programs that kept interrupting my enjoyment of the ads), no less than the venerable brand Safeguard drove home the inevitable message: the appeal of fairer skin is what the great majority of consumers are looking for: Safeguard now has a papaya-enriched version (does the Safeguard "conscience" now tell you to have whiter skin as well?). What used to be a hush-hush beauty ritual confined within the inner sanctum of Filipino women’s boudoirs is now a family-rated concern and a common tao’s obsession.
In the meantime, makers of these products are raking in the profits, painting the town (and the world) white, and spreading the gospel of white to a global market, continually searching for that one true product which will, finally, irrefutably turn skin whiter than the other guy’s. Skin whitening, whether we like it or not, is now a highly profitable industry, what with an army of dermatologists bleaching faces, underarms, crotches, knees and liver spots the world over, and a battalion of chemists and savvy marketers pushing papaya soaps to billions of vain men and women. What’s next? A global population looking like Michael Jackson? Heaven forbid!
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