Skin Lightening and Beauty in Four Asian Cultures Eric P.H

ASSOCIATION FOR CONSUMER RESEARCH Labovitz School of Business & Economics, University of Minnesota Duluth, 11 E. Superior Street, Suite 210, Duluth, MN 55802 Skin Lightening and Beauty in Four Asian Cultures Eric P.H. Li, York University, Canada Hyun Jeong Min, University of Utah Russell W. Belk, York University, Canada “Whiteness” or having white skin is considered an important element in constructing female beauty in Asian cultures. A dramatic growth of skin whitening and lightening products has occurred in Asian markets. Contemporary meanings of whiteness are influenced by Western ideologies as well as traditional Asian values and beliefs. In this study, we analyze print advertisements for skin whitening and lightening products in four Asian societies -- India, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. We compare the verbal messages and visual images for both global brands and local brands and across countries. We find that whiteness in these Asian cultures is both empowering and disempowering as well as both global and local in character. [to cite]: Eric P.H. Li, Hyun Jeong Min, Russell W. Belk, and Junko Kimura, Shalini Bahl (2008) ,"Skin Lightening and Beauty in Four Asian Cultures", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 35, eds. Angela Y. Lee and Dilip Soman, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 444-449. [url]: http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/13415/volumes/v35/NA-35 [copyright notice]: This work is copyrighted by The Association for Consumer Research. For permission to copy or use this work in whole or in part, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center at http://www.copyright.com/. Skin Lightening and Beauty in Four Asian Cultures Eric P. H. Li, York University, Canada Hyun Jeong Min, University of Utah, USA Russell W. Belk, York University, Canada Junko Kimura, Hosei University, Japan Shalini Bahl, University of Utah, USA ABSTRACT whitening and lightening products have recorded dramatic growth “Whiteness” or having white skin is considered an important in Asia during the past several decades (Ashikari 2005). Mass element in constructing female beauty in Asian cultures. A dra- media and the fashion industry play important roles in reinforcing matic growth of skin whitening and lightening products has oc- the yearning for white skin. Advertisements also play important curred in Asian markets. Contemporary meanings of whiteness are roles in shaping ideal self images for consumers (Belk and Pollay influenced by Western ideologies as well as traditional Asian 1985), and are the focus of our research. values and beliefs. In this study, we analyze print advertisements for We studied how advertisers portray skin color to women in skin whitening and lightening products in four Asian societies— Asian cultures. Content analysis and semiotic analysis were used in India, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. We compare the verbal exploring the notion of white skin in four Asian societies (India, messages and visual images for both global brands and local brands Japan, Korea and Hong Kong). We compared the cultural similari- and across countries. We find that whiteness in these Asian cultures ties and differences in advertising skin whitening and lightening is both empowering and disempowering as well as both global and products by both global brands and domestic brands. We also local in character. studied the metaphors used in advertisements in order to understand the process of constructing the meanings of “whiteness” in different INTRODUCTION Asian cultures. “White skin” has emerged as a central desideratum of consumer culture in affluent Asia. Not only does skin lightness affect THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES perceptions of a woman’s beauty, it also affects her marital prospects, job prospects, social status, and earning potential (Ashikari Globalizing Notions of Beauty 2003b; Goon and Craven 2003; Leslie 2004). The beauty ideal of In India, the words for fair and beautiful are synonymous white skin in Asia predates colonialism and the introduction of (Franklin 1968; Hall 1995). In one view “whiteness” and “pale- Western notions of beauty (e.g., Wagatsuma 1967). Contemporary ness” are distinct but related concepts, “signifying both distinction meanings of white skin combine Western mass-mediated ideolo- between, and collusion with, the historical myths of paleness gies and traditional Asian cultural values. The popularity of Cauca- associated with feminine discourses of beauty, and ‘whiteness’ as sian and Eurasian models reflects the postcolonial structure of an imperialist, racialized value of superiority” (Goon and Craven commoditization and consumerism and is still influenced by a 2003). Although, as we have already noted, ideals of whiteness colonial past (Goon and Craven 2003). Western-centrism and embedded in Asian notions of female beauty predate colonialism cultural hegemony interact with Asian ideologies like Confucian- and other forms of contact with the West, the prevalence of ism in strengthening the ideal of whiteness (Russell 1996). Caucasian models in many Asian advertisements for beauty prod- Asian countries have long histories of utilizing white skin as ucts raises the possibility that beauty ideals are or are becoming a key criterion of personal beauty. In Korea, flawless skin like white global. According to a study of the Human Relations Area Files jade and an absence of freckles and scars have been preferred since more than 20 years ago, of 312 different cultures, 51 used skin color the first dynasty in Korean history (the Gojoseon Era, 2333-108 as a criterion of beauty, and in all but four of these lighter skin was B.C.E.). Various methods of lightening the skin have long been preferred (Van den Berge and Frost 1986). Russell, Wilson, and used in Korea, such as applying miansoo lotion and dregs of honey Hall (1992) note that while white is associated with purity, righ- (Jeon, 1987). In Japan, applying white powder to the face has been teousness, decency, and auspiciousness, black is associated with considered a woman’s moral duty since the Edo period (Ashikari wickedness, villainy, menace, and illegality. In Asia, skin lighten- 2003a; 2003b; 2005). In India, white skin is considered as a mark ing as well as cosmetic surgeries that provide a more Western of class and caste as well as an asset (Leistikow 2003). Historically, appearance (e.g., Kaw 1993; Miller 2003) have been taken by some women (especially married women) in South India bathed with as evidence of the global appeal of Western and Caucasian stan- turmeric. Apart from the health benefits involved, it also has skin dards of beauty (Goon and Craven 2003; Isa and Kramer 2003). But lightening and anti-inflammatory properties. In China, “milk-white” others reject this conclusion, pointing for example to the desire of skin is a symbol of beauty and some Chinese women used to white Western men for the dark exotic “Other” (e.g., Hunter 2005). swallow powdered pearls in the hopes of becoming whiter (China This is a weak argument however in that the transgressive desire for Daily 2006). Although there are cultural variations, the desire for Otherness may offer an element of perceived danger and excite- light skin is universal (Isa and Kramer 2003; Russell, Wilson and ment but has hardly brought about the homogenization of skin Hall 1992). pigmentation through widespread intermarriage of dark skinned “Whiteness” remains an important element in contemporary and light skinned people. postcolonial Asian understandings of beauty and has become a During the colonial era, and arguably before and after as well, commodity in the marketplace (Goon and Craven 2003). Skin rather than a homogenizing blending of skin color, there has instead lightening products are popular not only in Asian cultures, but in been an attempt to distinguish the dark Other as “primitive” and other non-white cultures as well (e.g., Burke 1996; Del Giudice inferior, thereby supporting the mission of the light skinned 2002; Duany 1998; Hall 1995; Lovell and Wood 1993). Fueled by colonialist to conquer and control the natives of Africa, the Ameri- increasing Asian wealth and growing consumer cultures, skin cas, Australia, New Zealand, and Polynesia (Torgovnick 1990). A 444 Advances in Consumer Research Volume 35, © 2008 Advances in Consumer Research (Volume 35) / 445 part of this project has entailed equating dark skin color with dirt, Westernized in the 1930s and incorporated high heel shoes, furs, filth, and defilement (Spurr 1993). When Charles Darwin (1839) bobbed hair, and Western beauty products. Chinese women who encountered the natives of Tierra del Fuego, he described them as adopted such fashions also became the target of an anti-foreign and “stunted in their growth, their hideous faces bedaubed with white anti-consumerist movement, the Kuomintang or New Life Move- paint, their skins filthy and greasy, their voices discordant, their ment. The Japanese invasion of China and World War II intervened, gestures violent and without dignity.” As Torgovnick analyzes but this movement eventually led to civil war and the establishment William Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan series, she finds that “As the series of the communist party in China. Women’s looks and clothing develops, it increasingly affirms existing hierarchies, including the became decidedly less consumerist and Western under commu- hierarchy of male over female, white over black, West over rest” nism until the late 1970s. The recent rise of consumerism in China (1990, 46). And McClintock (1995) shows how advertisements for has brought about a resurgence of Westernized fashions. But the Pears soap depict its ability to magically cleanse the body of a black legacy of foreign conquests and humiliations of China have also led child and make it white, vividly illustrating the association of to a simultaneous love/hate relationship with the global and foreign darkness with dirt. At the same time, advertisements suggest that in contemporary China (Belk and Zhao 2003; Zhou and Belk 2004). the colonial mission of “civilizing” native populations necessarily In the long tradition of Korean shamanism, a person with white involves imposing a global standard of Caucasian beauty.

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