Categories: Business General

Thai ‘Racist’ Skin Whitening Product Causes Online Uproar

Bangkok, Jan 8 (IANS) A Thai commercial touting white skin as a ticket to success has come under fire on Friday from social media users.

The commercial for Snowz, a skin whitening product, was uploaded to Youtube by cosmetic firm Seoul Secret on Wednesday, EFE news reported.

In the advertisement, light-skinned Thai actress Cirin 'Chris' Horwang appears and says: "Once I stop taking care of myself, everything I have dedicated, (and) the whiteness I have invested in, will be gone."

The camera then pans to show another actress beside her, with light skin, while Chris changes into a 'blackface' actress.

The ad finishes with the tagline: "Just being white is enough to make you win."

Users on Facebook and Twitter were pouring harsh criticism on the 'racist' cosmetic ad.

"What a stupidity, really... they look sick, anaemic, almost ghostly... ready to play in a horror movie," wrote one user on Facebook.

"What hurts me most are the comments from this product's prospective customers. There are people who really believe being white is better," wrote another Facebook user.

Seoul Secret disabled the comments section with the video later in the day.

As of the afternoon, the video on Youtube was inaccessible to public view.

A similar uproar erupted in 2013 when whitening cream company Citra (a subsidiary of Unilever) put on a photo contest and offered a 100,000 baht scholarship to university students with "fair skin".

The company later apologised for the incident.

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