L’Oréal guilty of racial discrimination

[LaTopher]

Wow, I will never buy their products. EVER.

I'm Arab, and they don't use much people with curls in their commercials so I must be 2 times less of what they think is 'in'.

[cayisha_azul]

Well I guess thats that, no more Garnier! I was done with L'Oreal after the Beyonce debacle anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LULoHxxsCPs
They are not the only company who promotes out and out racism. I came across a horrible commercial to promote Pond's Flawless White skin lightening product. It litterally said that whiter skin was more desirable. In the commrcial a dusky (that is what they call brown skin in India) woman lightened her skin so that she could get a man. (They also sell this product in Africa.) The commercial is linked above. Yea, it really is as bad as it sounds. Why can't we love ourselves and love others for their unique beauty?

[porque_pig]

Uh, that Ponds commercial is pretty much the most appalling thing I have ever seen.

[TeachDeafies]

So, uh, I hate to tell you guys this, but our little corner of the internet isn't going to make a drop in the bucket in L'Oreal's global sales if you boycott their products. It's more like a grain of sand on a mile-long beach. If you want to have an effect, write them letters.

[cayisha_azul]

Originally Posted by porque_pig

Uh, that Ponds commercial is pretty much the most appalling thing I have ever seen.

I was so shocked that something like that was put out by a modern company. At the end of the commercial she was lighter than both the guy and his girlfriend. And the girl who uploaded the commercial said that she loved the "love story." What?! It was so sad for her because I'm sure that product doesn't work that way and there might be side effects. Who knows?

[OperaCurls]

Originally Posted by cayisha_azul

I was so shocked that something like that was put out by a modern company. At the end of the commercial she was lighter than both the guy and his girlfriend. And the girl who uploaded the commercial said that she loved the "love story." What?! It was so sad for her because I'm sure that product doesn't work that way and there might be side effects. Who knows?

I am shocked and saddened by this as well, but we all have to realize: products and ad campaigns like this exist because there is a demand for them. I read an article in Allure a few years ago that was about the skin-lightening market in China, and it basically said that lighter skin was associated with wealth and beauty because of American/Western European beauty aesthetics. Therefore, more and more products were (and are) being put out on the market because of high demand. It's a cultural thing, like cosmetic surgery in Brazil. I'm not making excuses for companies that promote it; frankly, I think it's disgusting.

[Truly]

Women need to collectively stop buying products that have ads that make us feel bad about ourselves. I can't believe Dove has those Campaign for Real Beauty, but outright endorses women in other countries hating themselves for being dark!

[CityGirl81]

I just went and watched this, oh I need to find out who owns Pond's and quickly. Oh I am so offended by that mess.

Edited to add

Unilever
Axe
Dove
Lux
Ponds
Sunsilk
Vaseline

Shameful, just shameful.

Originally Posted by cayisha_azul

Well I guess thats that, no more Garnier! I was done with L'Oreal after the Beyonce debacle anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LULoHxxsCPs
They are not the only company who promotes out and out racism. I came across a horrible commercial to promote Pond's Flawless White skin lightening product. It litterally said that whiter skin was more desirable. In the commrcial a dusky (that is what they call brown skin in India) woman lightened her skin so that she could get a man. (They also sell this product in Africa.) The commercial is linked above. Yea, it really is as bad as it sounds. Why can't we love ourselves and love others for their unique beauty?

[curlypearl]

Nauseating. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

[EastAfricanBeauty]

thanks for posting this, they r truly terrible!! dont use them anyways!!

[Rotini]

Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. I will try to boycott, but I'm a teen... don't have much say in my house.

[IrisChacon1984]

Don't use none of those products!

So more of a reason never to start!

[Gabi2009]

When I was in Indonesia roughly a decade ago, variations of the Ponds commerical were the norm. Ponds and Nivea had the most skin whitening ads on TV at that time. I am not sure if that has changed but I doubt it. The story line is always filled with racism, sexism and classism: the people shown are economically comfortable, woman wants man who spurns her directly or otherwise because she is dark, but then woman uses Ponds/Nivea/etc and then becomes attractive to man who suddenly falls in love with her and they all live happily ever after.

The ad that rivals this one in my memory involved two very pale Indonesian identical twins in white dresses (always two women in these things and a white dress), one was marginally darker than the other and when they both see an attractive man (always only one man in these things), the darker twin hides behind her sister out of embarassment at her darker skin as she looks shyly at the man. The man looks at both of them but find the lighter woman more appealing. The darker woman is visibly crushed. However, the darker woman discovers Ponds/Nivea and after using it becomes lighter (they show a visual spectrum augmented by music which reaches a crescendo when darker woman reaches optimal whiteness - think: ting, ting TING!), they both see the man again (wearing white dresses) but this time he is so struck by the beauty of both his face contorts in delight and just doesn't know who to pick. And they all live happily ever after.

Interestingly, the twins were already so pale it was unnatural and when the "darker" one bleached her skin she became almost fluorescent.

I have pictures from my time in Indo where you can see the bleaching on actual people which usually involved only the face but not covering all of the face leading to lighter skin just above the jawline, and then there was the discord between face color and other body parts which was also pretty interesting.

Most of the world is afflicted by this problem - has a large part to do with the modern western colonial legacy (economic and psychological domination are pretty strong stuff!). It's good that we talk about it and care enough to try to avoid contributing to companies that continue to feed this problem.

FYI: Unilever (maker of Ponds) made most of its fortune which it has used to build itself into a major transnational corporation (TNC) from West Africa. See Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.

OK won't bore anyone further :-)

Originally Posted by cayisha_azul

Well I guess thats that, no more Garnier! I was done with L'Oreal after the Beyonce debacle anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LULoHxxsCPs
They are not the only company who promotes out and out racism. I came across a horrible commercial to promote Pond's Flawless White skin lightening product. It litterally said that whiter skin was more desirable. In the commrcial a dusky (that is what they call brown skin in India) woman lightened her skin so that she could get a man. (They also sell this product in Africa.) The commercial is linked above. Yea, it really is as bad as it sounds. Why can't we love ourselves and love others for their unique beauty?

[kenzallan1212]

Originally Posted by Amund

I seriously almost cried when I saw the before and after photos of Beyonce... she looks sickly now. Hopefully she can stop the lightening before she becomes the next Michael Jackson (referring toe the skin... not the children thing...)


Also... damn I love the smell of Garnier... Oh well, I still got Aussie and Dove.

Redken owns Aussie and L'Oreal owns Redken. So if you are REALLY going to boycott L'Oreal then you don't have Aussie either. Unilever owns Dove, and Unilever has been criticized for selling skin-lightening creams, so basically the same thing as L'Oreal....and throwing in my two cents--yes, it IS wrong, and no, it shouldn't have happened, but every company out there has taken heat for doing something-or-other deemed unacceptable, it just may not be common knowledge. And while i wont go out of my way to not buy anything owned by them, if it comes down to 2 products that i like ill buy the one that L'Oreal doesn't own.

[nicoleshair]

Originally Posted by KinkyKeeper

Man, whoever does L'Oreal's Public Relations is incredibly incompetent. I've taken PR classes, one of the first rules is apologize, denial of an action only turns public opinion even further against you. But the instant you apologize and own up to your mistake, a lot of customers would forgive a company.

I don't want to hear denial, the evidence is right in front of me. It makes me think they think we are stupid or something. But hey just one more reason to boycott them, they're liars and they think their customers are morons. They also denied lightening Beyonce's skin for an ad (and looking the pictures it looks like they made her nose different as well). She actually looks kinda fugly (and not at all like herself) in the second picture, so they're computer touch up department sucks too for actually managing to make Beyonce look unpretty.



Speaking as someone around Beyonce's natural skin tone, skin of color does have a tendency to look lighter or darker depending on the lighting. My skin is a chameleon but the second pic? Never that light (unless I was in bright flash and outdoors).

why did Beyonce let them do that? its not like she need the money since she and Jayz leaves 500.00 tips

[~Ghost Poster~]

Originally Posted by kenzallan1212

Redken owns Aussie and L'Oreal owns Redken. So if you are REALLY going to boycott L'Oreal then you don't have Aussie either. Unilever owns Dove, and Unilever has been criticized for selling skin-lightening creams, so basically the same thing as L'Oreal....and throwing in my two cents--yes, it IS wrong, and no, it shouldn't have happened, but every company out there has taken heat for doing something-or-other deemed unacceptable, it just may not be common knowledge. And while i wont go out of my way to not buy anything owned by them, if it comes down to 2 products that i like ill buy the one that L'Oreal doesn't own.

Totally off topic...your hair grows 3-4 inches per month? ???

[kenzallan1212]

yep!! its really weird. i got my hair cut the beginning of september to about 2 inches above my shoulder and im getting it cut next week and its about 6 inches below my shoulders......so about 8 inches in a little over 2 months....my hair does a lot of things its not "supposed" to though...

[emilylouise]

Something to think about: why should L'oreal be badmouthed for lightening Beyonce's skin when no one ever gets in trouble for putting bronzer on a naturally very pale person?
I think everyone should embrace their natural beauty: skin colour, hair texture, etc. Beyonce is beautiful and I think that far too much touching-up and airbrushing goes on in today's ads.... but it is something to think about.