aldric de ocampo,
Not long ago on Sunday, May 5, ABS-CBN’s comedy show Banana Sundae parodied the heated spat of sibling Makati mayoral candidates Abby and Junjun Binay in a church debate. The show made use of the controversial blackface to depict the commonly associated dark skin color of the Binays in their skit.
Blackface is a popular culture trend which started in America where Caucasian or fair-skinned actors wear black or dark makeup in their performances to create caricatures of people with African descent. It has a history of racial discrimination in its usage since it was used before to depict racial stereotypes of said people with dark skin colors. It was also only actually taken as a serious issue with the rise of multiculturalism in the 1990s.
Because of this, I am once again dumbfounded by the actions of the media here in the Philippines. In both television and the internet, this same issue keeps popping up. The terrifying thing is that it hasn’t been a month since the last time this issue has resurfaced.
SkinWhite, a brand producing skin-whitening products, released an ad last April 3 on their Twitter account which also drew flak from netizens due to their use of blackface on their models. SkinWhite used the misguided theme of twins with different skin colors as a representation of their message that “they are both beautiful whether they choose to be dark or white.” However, instead of hiring actual morena models in their ads, they got twins who both had fair skin instead.
These two examples bring the use of blackface in the hot seat as we yet again see the profound ignorance of the Philippine media to this issue, and the larger issue of colorism at hand. This is because not only is this problem relevant to the cultural situation of Americans, but also to the situation of Filipinos.
The Philippines has a culture of “white supremacy” due to our history. Ever since the Spanish conquered the archipelago, there has been a rift between the mestizos and the indios. Many people believed and still believe that those with fairer skin tones, among other Caucasian traits, deserve and should receive more privilege, as opposed to those with darker skin tones. Furthermore, the Americans themselves also reinforced the belief that white people were superior through their influence in the culture and education of the Filipinos during the American occupation.
With this historical context of the country, it is not hard to see why Filipinos look up to fair-skinned people while down on dark-skinned ones, as with the use of blackface. Though it may explain the usage in the Philippines, it is not justified. Blackface only furthers the issue of colorism in our society.
It is not racism but colorism since we belong in one ethnicity or culture. In fact, we Filipinos have a variety of skin tones that range from fair to dark. It was only our Spanish colonizers who grouped everyone into a “brown” category during their occupation of the country. So instead of discriminating a certain ethnicity, the people of our society are only actually discriminating other Filipinos due to their skin’s physical characteristic.
Now the issue of colorism is the “larger issue” mentioned before because this is unfortunately the status quo. It is deeply embedded in our minds that fairer-skinned people are much better off in our society, which is why we must strive to be like them.
An example of this is another controversial ad released last month on April 13 by GlutaMAX, a skin-whitening brand like SkinWhite. The general idea of their ad was that people who are dark-skinned are treated unfairly in our society, which is why they should use their product to gain “Your Fair Advantage”.
Not only was this ad campaign considered unethical by the Ad Standards Council (ASC), it was also bringing forth the wrong mindset towards colorism. Instead of breaking the dominant ideology, they were instead reinforcing it by saying that people should have fairer skin.
As of April 15, the company has apologized for the discomfort caused by the campaign. However, this issue should not only stop here, and should be addressed once and for all.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with having fairer skin, or even using skin-whitening products. The problem lies with the belief that fairer-skinned people are better than, or deserve more, than darker-skinned people, just as it is with the ad. As a people, Filipinos must understand that whatever skin color we have, be it fair or dark, all of us deserve equal respect and rights.
We must also be aware of the true essence of this movement, that there should be no barriers set up by the dominant colorist belief between people, unlike the interpretation of SkinWhite. Sure, they may say “Dark or White, You Are Beautiful”, but this is not in line with their actions. If they truly mean what their message says, they would’ve hired a morena for their ads and not use blackface, or not use stigmatized words and phrases such as “shadow” or “copy and paste” in their television commercials instead of contradicting themselves and being “fake woke”.
In addition, they should have been more careful with their choice of words in the explanation of their ad since people don’t really get to choose the skin color they’re born with as opposed to their claim. They must also realize that their product is essentially reinforcing hegemony in colorism, and that this movement actually requires a revolutionary change in our worldview rather than shallowly keeping up with a trend.
If our society and media truly want to uphold the belief that dark and fair are to be treated “fairly” beyond reason, a proper discourse must be taken by the people. Dark-skinned people should assert that they are no less human than fair-skinned people. They should also be given more opportunities in the industry to express themselves, as they are equally a part of this society. Advertisements should not force people to whiten their skin color just because fairer-skinned people are believed to have more privileges. And finally, people in general must understand the roots of this colorist issue and avoid being misled or blinded by its prevalent manifestations.
It is good to note that not only in the media does colorism happen. It is happening even in our own communities and we don’t even realize it. We use derogatory words and phrases such as negro, pwet ng kawali, sunog ng araw, and ang itim-itim mo na! in our daily conversations, and yet we turn a blind eye or even laugh at these sayings.
We must understand that our use of language may also contribute to colorism . If we are still using these discriminatory remarks even after seeing the effect of colorism in its entirety, then maybe it is time for us to rethink our words, too.
To eliminate discrimination based on skin color, we must call out the practice of blackface in media and social institutions and reflect upon our own actions and thoughts. After this can we only learn to break away from outdated beliefs or manipulative biases. From here, we will also finally be able to step up and speak out about more injustices and prejudices ubiquitous to our society as Filipinos. And if we realize how dark calling someone dark truly is, then maybe we’re one step closer to learning that dark doesn’t necessarily mean bad after all. //by Aldric de Ocampo
Opinion: The Dark Truth About Colorism
Photo credit: Ulap Coquilla
Not long ago on Sunday, May 5, ABS-CBN’s comedy show Banana Sundae parodied the heated spat of sibling Makati mayoral candidates Abby and Junjun Binay in a church debate. The show made use of the controversial blackface to depict the commonly associated dark skin color of the Binays in their skit.
Blackface is a popular culture trend which started in America where Caucasian or fair-skinned actors wear black or dark makeup in their performances to create caricatures of people with African descent. It has a history of racial discrimination in its usage since it was used before to depict racial stereotypes of said people with dark skin colors. It was also only actually taken as a serious issue with the rise of multiculturalism in the 1990s.
Because of this, I am once again dumbfounded by the actions of the media here in the Philippines. In both television and the internet, this same issue keeps popping up. The terrifying thing is that it hasn’t been a month since the last time this issue has resurfaced.
SkinWhite, a brand producing skin-whitening products, released an ad last April 3 on their Twitter account which also drew flak from netizens due to their use of blackface on their models. SkinWhite used the misguided theme of twins with different skin colors as a representation of their message that “they are both beautiful whether they choose to be dark or white.” However, instead of hiring actual morena models in their ads, they got twins who both had fair skin instead.
These two examples bring the use of blackface in the hot seat as we yet again see the profound ignorance of the Philippine media to this issue, and the larger issue of colorism at hand. This is because not only is this problem relevant to the cultural situation of Americans, but also to the situation of Filipinos.
The Philippines has a culture of “white supremacy” due to our history. Ever since the Spanish conquered the archipelago, there has been a rift between the mestizos and the indios. Many people believed and still believe that those with fairer skin tones, among other Caucasian traits, deserve and should receive more privilege, as opposed to those with darker skin tones. Furthermore, the Americans themselves also reinforced the belief that white people were superior through their influence in the culture and education of the Filipinos during the American occupation.
With this historical context of the country, it is not hard to see why Filipinos look up to fair-skinned people while down on dark-skinned ones, as with the use of blackface. Though it may explain the usage in the Philippines, it is not justified. Blackface only furthers the issue of colorism in our society.
It is not racism but colorism since we belong in one ethnicity or culture. In fact, we Filipinos have a variety of skin tones that range from fair to dark. It was only our Spanish colonizers who grouped everyone into a “brown” category during their occupation of the country. So instead of discriminating a certain ethnicity, the people of our society are only actually discriminating other Filipinos due to their skin’s physical characteristic.
Now the issue of colorism is the “larger issue” mentioned before because this is unfortunately the status quo. It is deeply embedded in our minds that fairer-skinned people are much better off in our society, which is why we must strive to be like them.
An example of this is another controversial ad released last month on April 13 by GlutaMAX, a skin-whitening brand like SkinWhite. The general idea of their ad was that people who are dark-skinned are treated unfairly in our society, which is why they should use their product to gain “Your Fair Advantage”.
Not only was this ad campaign considered unethical by the Ad Standards Council (ASC), it was also bringing forth the wrong mindset towards colorism. Instead of breaking the dominant ideology, they were instead reinforcing it by saying that people should have fairer skin.
As of April 15, the company has apologized for the discomfort caused by the campaign. However, this issue should not only stop here, and should be addressed once and for all.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with having fairer skin, or even using skin-whitening products. The problem lies with the belief that fairer-skinned people are better than, or deserve more, than darker-skinned people, just as it is with the ad. As a people, Filipinos must understand that whatever skin color we have, be it fair or dark, all of us deserve equal respect and rights.
We must also be aware of the true essence of this movement, that there should be no barriers set up by the dominant colorist belief between people, unlike the interpretation of SkinWhite. Sure, they may say “Dark or White, You Are Beautiful”, but this is not in line with their actions. If they truly mean what their message says, they would’ve hired a morena for their ads and not use blackface, or not use stigmatized words and phrases such as “shadow” or “copy and paste” in their television commercials instead of contradicting themselves and being “fake woke”.
In addition, they should have been more careful with their choice of words in the explanation of their ad since people don’t really get to choose the skin color they’re born with as opposed to their claim. They must also realize that their product is essentially reinforcing hegemony in colorism, and that this movement actually requires a revolutionary change in our worldview rather than shallowly keeping up with a trend.
If our society and media truly want to uphold the belief that dark and fair are to be treated “fairly” beyond reason, a proper discourse must be taken by the people. Dark-skinned people should assert that they are no less human than fair-skinned people. They should also be given more opportunities in the industry to express themselves, as they are equally a part of this society. Advertisements should not force people to whiten their skin color just because fairer-skinned people are believed to have more privileges. And finally, people in general must understand the roots of this colorist issue and avoid being misled or blinded by its prevalent manifestations.
It is good to note that not only in the media does colorism happen. It is happening even in our own communities and we don’t even realize it. We use derogatory words and phrases such as negro, pwet ng kawali, sunog ng araw, and ang itim-itim mo na! in our daily conversations, and yet we turn a blind eye or even laugh at these sayings.
We must understand that our use of language may also contribute to colorism . If we are still using these discriminatory remarks even after seeing the effect of colorism in its entirety, then maybe it is time for us to rethink our words, too.
To eliminate discrimination based on skin color, we must call out the practice of blackface in media and social institutions and reflect upon our own actions and thoughts. After this can we only learn to break away from outdated beliefs or manipulative biases. From here, we will also finally be able to step up and speak out about more injustices and prejudices ubiquitous to our society as Filipinos. And if we realize how dark calling someone dark truly is, then maybe we’re one step closer to learning that dark doesn’t necessarily mean bad after all. //by Aldric de Ocampo
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