Filipino Advertisements are often Racist

I am a Full Blooded Filipino and it would be weird if i hear of a tanning lotion or darkening soap being endorsed on Philippine National Television.

I was born with a brown complexion unlike my brothers and my aunties, who happened to be my childhood friends, who have lighter ones. My uncle would always call me chocolate whenever I and my friends are playing. We were like the powerpuff girls, I would be the chocolate, one would be the sugar and one would be the milk, of course based on our complexions. When I was young I never thought that calling me chocolate was racist. I thought that it was just a simple tease from my uncle.

As i grew older, I noticed that my mom would always buy those whitening soaps, whitening creams, and whitening lotions. She would always tell me to use those products because they are “tested and proven”. One of my aunts who was also born with a brown complexion used those and grew up with a lighter one.

So I started using those “whitening products” because I thought I would look better if I have a lighter skin. I was young and I did not pay so much attention about people calling me the N word, or chocolate, or wood… In and out of the ear. I thought then that having a brown complexion is ugly.

Then I reached my high school and I had a rift with one of the students from the other class. She said nasty stuffs about me called me ugly in the presence of her classmates… I knew then that I was not good looking but calling me ugly because of my complexion was out of the line. I was so pissed off that I pushed her from her line and called it quits. It’s a total bullshit that one could disrespect another just because of the skin color. I thought having a brown complexion was unfortunate. I never really liked my skin color until I reached college.

We had volleyball and swimming for our P.E. class and I noticed that I could stay longer under the sun without worrying about my skin. I do not get burned easily (not literally burn). Thanks to having more melanin that I have little more protection from the sun and that I am less susceptible to developing skin cancer. And I may be less prone to premature signs of aging.

One time I was with my powerpuff friends and they saw this photo of a young lady with a brown complexion. Since they have lighter skin color, they started calling the lady the N word, ugly, and they made derogatory remarks just because of the her complexion and I was stunned. I was offended as well. So I defended the young lady even if she was a complete stranger because I, myself has a brown complexion. Hearing remarks like that makes me sick. I realized that I was bullied when I was younger. I was not teased.

What do you expect from living in a tropical country? People with fair complexion? Then that would violate the rule.

I just saw a TV ad of a whitening soap and I admit, I hate hearing taglines about being white “MORE BEAUTIFUL“. The FUCK. Even the Filipino series are racist. Who plays the ugly roles? More often, it’s the people with darker complexion. And what would they do to make them look pretty? Make them use whitening products… And if they didn’t get the result they want, they would go to the doctor and ask for a syringe of Glutathione.

Face palm. I would like to hit my head on the wall. This is why us, Filipinos, will not prosper as long as we are trapped in our colonial mentality.

We make a fuss over something said on the internet (dictionary) about us being domestic helpers (it’s really offensive) or copycat but we, ourselves make fun of our own color. We hate our own color. For me it really doesn’t matter what do other races think about us. We do not have to prove anything to them. We have to prove ourselves… to ourselves.

The problem to us, Filipinos, is our mindset. We are big-time racist of our own race but we do not like hearing racist remarks from other races. We always want to be somebody else and we always want to have something else, something western. And it’s very unusual that more often, western people get head over heels over our skin color. They even use tanning machines. It’s glad and sad to hear that other race would want to be us. So why can’t we love our own race? Why can’t we become full fledged Filipinos?

I stopped using whitening products years ago. I learned the tricks of living a happy life. And it always starts with loving your own skin.

P.S. I don’t speak Filipino fluently. It’s not my native tongue. My grammar is truly horrible. So I make entries in English.