Dear reader,

When I was around 10 years old, I would often sneak out of the house to go to the neighborhood pharmacy. I would ogle at the rows and rows of facial wash, astringent, body soap, and facial cream. And then come home with the tiniest tube or cheapest papaya soap my handful of coins could buy.

They all promised to make my skin look white.

But I wasn't even a morena. I more or less have a type IV skin based on the Fitzpatrick scale.

I think that shows how bad it was then – facial washes promising rosy white skin, body lotions promising lighter skin in just 7 days, whitening soaps promising kutis artista.

But have things really changed?

These past few days, netizens have been up in arms over the controversial advertisements by two whitening brands.

They thought the ads were insensitive, tone-deaf, and just "plain dumb."

These prompted a #MeToo kind of response, with writer and TV host, Bianca Gonzalez, chiming in: "Just a note from a Filipina with brown skin since birth: There is no problem at all sa mga gustong magpaputi. The problem is when whitening brands make us look 'kaawa-awa' dahil lang maitim kami. Kasi, hindi po kami kawawa, maganda ang kulay namin."

How should brands talk about beauty then?

It goes without saying that it should be by empowering and celebrating all kinds, colors, shapes, and sizes.

Their models are always people we would see ourselves in, encouraging us to embrace and love what we have instead of what we don’t.

This campaign may have had its own fair share of criticism, but let’s be honest, Dove has disrupted the beauty and advertising industries.  

Fenty Beauty, Rihanna’s makeup line, has had the same impact.

In 2017, Fenty launched products – foundations, concealers, bronzers, highlighters, lipsticks, the whole nine yards – that are made for every shade of skin, staying true to their slogan: “Beauty for all.”

According to Rihanna, “Fenty was created for everyone: for women of all shades, personalities, attitudes, cultures, and races. I wanted everyone to feel included. That’s the real reason I made this line.”

Shouldn’t that be every brand’s reason?

We're proud to say that we've worked with brands that feel the same way. From Olay who encouraged women to be proud of their age to Pantene who urged women to redefine labels.

How about you? Have you seen ads by beauty brands that are empowering? Share them with us!

Marj Casal
Editor, BrandRap