Feminine 'white' wash goes too far

COMMENTARY

Published: 14 Sep 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

'Every woman is concerned!" is the message on the website of a feminine wash product of pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Aventis.

"Whether or not you have problems _ irritation, itchiness, burning sensations, dryness or unpleasant odours _ and whatever your age, you need to use [the product]," says the manufacturer, which recently launched a product for Thai women: vagina-whitening wash.

I'm a woman, but I wasn't concerned about the product until I was bombarded with advertisements and marketing campaigns about the newly launched intimate cleansing liquid which is claimed to be able to whiten the user's vagina and areas between the thighs within four weeks.

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Eggmeng
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Discussion 14 : 14 Sep 2012 at 12.4014
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@discussion 8

The TV soaps ARE the "advertising and marketing moguls." The shows exist only as a vehicle to sell product, hence their poor quality while the real money goes into creating the ad spots. And like the whitening creams the shows are created to get and keep people hooked.
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ubuntu
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Discussion 13 : 14 Sep 2012 at 11.2913
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Khun Kultida excellent article is logical and correct, however the writers at BKK Post think quite outside the box no doubt have meaningful education and world awareness. I have read superb BP pieces in English by authors in their second language that very much humbled me, a native English speaking person.

White female genitalia is not even anatomically correct, in any race, and even a bizarre concept. It would be akin to vitiligo (skin pathology where local areas lose pigment)

The company in question is simply marketing a product to an already "white skin crazed" "image over substance" populous. It seems umbrella sales are increased more on sunny days than rainy days. Perhaps when the day comes where the content of a persons character is held above their skin color, the people will lose interest in skin whitening. The day when substance is stressed over image becomes a reality people will focus less on skin color.
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rebel4ever
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Discussion 12 : 14 Sep 2012 at 11.1412
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Do they also sell florescent purple? Would be nice to find my girlfriend that way in the dark...
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Aussie John
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Discussion 11 : 14 Sep 2012 at 10.5011
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Skin whitening products can do permanent damage to the pigimentation of naturally dark skinned Thai women.It can make them more proned to skin cancer and keeps them using the companies products once the whitening is achieved. Women with white faces and brown bodies are everywhere in Thailand it can be a quite bizarre sight for a foreigner...but normal for a Thais. Its just another monoply that companies jump onto, knowing the self conscious nature of Thais who see white as being beautiful while dark skin is viewed as lower class/rural.
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Ozman_Bkk
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Discussion 10 : 14 Sep 2012 at 10.2010
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Unfortunately you can not legislate common sense. As Barry [disc #7] says, if you want to do it then you should be free to do so.

But a product that whitens the virgina ? That is really crazy. Then again, maybe we will have a new fad where women will be proud to show the world the result !
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jackfruit
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Discussion 9 : 14 Sep 2012 at 10.159
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consumer products that support racism, awesome.
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NangrongJ
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Discussion 8 : 14 Sep 2012 at 09.208
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Excellent article and totally agree with the author.

It's not just the advertisers and marketing moguls but the biggest culprits are the Thai tv soap shows! Almost every actor looks like a farang, from the white skin, the nose jobs and even clothes!

Is this what Thailand wants to project to its young people? If so it is a disgrace, insulting and demeaning.

I tried to buy some soap liquid recently and struggled to find anything that didn't offer a white face! What the young don't realise is many of these products would be banned in the UK/EU and USA!
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barryw
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Discussion 7 : 14 Sep 2012 at 08.397
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The desire for white skin, at least in Thailand, is because dark skin is considered to be something belonging to farmers and therefore a sign of low class. In an ultra class-structured society as Thailand that is unacceptable. The benefit of whitening products may be questionable, but if they are safe (?) and people what to buy them then they should be free to do so.
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barryw
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Discussion 6 : 14 Sep 2012 at 08.306
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It is NOT the job of the FDA to advise people what to buy, only to ensure the item is safe. More importantly, has the product been proved to work? In more advanced countries there is an advertising standards body that takes companies to court if their advertising misleads, but that doesn't appear to be the case in Thailand (real estate companies are prime culprits, showing pristine scenery that doesn't exist).
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benyiam
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Discussion 5 : 14 Sep 2012 at 08.265
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I agree 100% with Kultida Samabuddhi. But writing "We should not let cosmetics firms define for us what is "beautiful"" seems to me like reducing the "white skin craze" to a commercial ethics issue. In my opinion, it goes far further ! It is a social and maybe a political matter : the dominant class in Thailand(usually from mixed thai-chinese origin) is whither than the popular class. They are rich, they have the power and are therefore "beautiful". The others are poor (or not rich), allegedly uneducated, work for the rich and therefore are "ugly" ! So having a white skin is the proof that you are not a "ugly black uneducated farmer or worker".
As the mainstream medias (Television - Movies) are in hand of the thai "Elite", they swamp the population with soap operas where heroes complexion is increasingly whiter. This leads to the aberration of seeing a lot of thai media stars being "luk khrueng" (Ananda Everingham, Ann Thongprasom, Thongchai McIntyre, Sririta Jensen ...)! They are beautiful because they do not look like Thais !!
Should that mean that the thai dominant class hates the real thai people ? should that mean that Thailand would be better when all thai people shall look like Germans or Suedes ?
Do you know the social and physical damages that "white skin craze" is causing in thai society ?
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