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1 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 CulturesEric 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 dramaticgrowth of skin whitening and lightening products has occurred in Asian markets. Contemporary meanings of whiteness are influencedby Western ideologies as well as traditional Asian values and beliefs. In this study, we analyze print advertisements for skin whiteningand lightening products in four Asian societies -- India, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. We compare the verbal messages and visualimages for both global brands and local brands and across countries.

2 We find that whiteness in these Asian cultures is bothempowering and disempowering as well as both global and local in character. [to cite]:Eric Li, Hyun Jeong Min, Russell W. Belk, and Junko Kimura, Shalini Bahl (2008) ,"Skin Lightening and Beauty in FourAsian 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]: [copyright notice]:This work is copyrighted by The ASSOCIATION for CONSUMER RESEARCH . For permission to copy or use this work in whole or inpart, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center at in CONSUMER ResearchVolume 35, 2008 Skin Lightening and Beauty in Four Asian CulturesEric P. H. Li, York University, CanadaHyun Jeong Min, University of Utah, USAR ussell W. Belk, York University, CanadaJunko Kimura, Hosei University, JapanShalini Bahl, University of Utah, USAABSTRACT Whiteness or having white skin is considered an importantelement in constructing female beauty in Asian cultures.

3 A dra-matic growth of skin whitening and lightening products has oc-curred in Asian markets. Contemporary meanings of whiteness areinfluenced by Western ideologies as well as traditional Asianvalues and beliefs. In this study, we analyze print advertisements forskin whitening and lightening products in four Asian societies India, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. We compare the verbalmessages and visual images for both global brands and local brandsand across countries. We find that whiteness in these Asian culturesis both empowering and disempowering as well as both global andlocal in White skin has emerged as a central desideratum of con-sumer culture in affluent Asia. Not only does skin lightness affectperceptions of a woman s beauty, it also affects her marital pros-pects, job prospects, social status, and earning potential (Ashikari2003b; Goon and Craven 2003; Leslie 2004).

4 The beauty ideal ofwhite skin in Asia predates colonialism and the introduction ofWestern notions of beauty ( , Wagatsuma 1967). Contemporarymeanings of white skin combine Western mass-mediated ideolo-gies and traditional Asian cultural values. The popularity of Cauca-sian and Eurasian models reflects the postcolonial structure ofcommoditization and consumerism and is still influenced by acolonial past (Goon and Craven 2003). Western-centrism andcultural hegemony interact with Asian ideologies like Confucian-ism in strengthening the ideal of whiteness (Russell 1996).Asian countries have long histories of utilizing white skin asa key criterion of personal beauty. In Korea, flawless skin like whitejade and an absence of freckles and scars have been preferred sincethe first dynasty in Korean history (the Gojoseon Era, ). Various methods of lightening the skin have long beenused in Korea, such as applying miansoo lotion and dregs of honey(Jeon, 1987).

5 In Japan, applying white powder to the face has beenconsidered a woman s moral duty since the Edo period (Ashikari2003a; 2003b; 2005). In India, white skin is considered as a markof class and caste as well as an asset (Leistikow 2003). Historically,women (especially married women) in South India bathed withturmeric. Apart from the health benefits involved, it also has skinlightening and anti-inflammatory properties. In China, milk-white skin is a symbol of beauty and some Chinese women used toswallow powdered pearls in the hopes of becoming whiter (ChinaDaily 2006). Although there are cultural variations, the desire forlight skin is universal (Isa and Kramer 2003; Russell, Wilson andHall 1992). Whiteness remains an important element in contemporarypostcolonial Asian understandings of beauty and has become acommodity in the marketplace (Goon and Craven 2003).

6 Skinlightening products are popular not only in Asian cultures, but inother non-white cultures as well ( , Burke 1996; Del Giudice2002; Duany 1998; Hall 1995; Lovell and Wood 1993). Fueled byincreasing Asian wealth and growing CONSUMER cultures, skinwhitening and lightening products have recorded dramatic growthin Asia during the past several decades (Ashikari 2005). Massmedia and the fashion industry play important roles in reinforcingthe yearning for white skin. Advertisements also play importantroles in shaping ideal self images for consumers (Belk and Pollay1985), and are the focus of our studied how advertisers portray skin color to women inAsian cultures. Content analysis and semiotic analysis were used inexploring the notion of white skin in four Asian societies (India,Japan, Korea and Hong Kong). We compared the cultural similari-ties and differences in advertising skin whitening and lighteningproducts by both global brands and domestic brands.

7 We alsostudied the metaphors used in advertisements in order to understandthe process of constructing the meanings of whiteness in differentAsian PERSPECTIVESG lobalizing Notions of BeautyIn India, the words for fair and beautiful are synonymous(Franklin 1968; Hall 1995). In one view whiteness and pale-ness are distinct but related concepts, signifying both distinctionbetween, and collusion with, the historical myths of palenessassociated with feminine discourses of beauty, and whiteness asan imperialist, racialized value of superiority (Goon and Craven2003). Although, as we have already noted, ideals of whitenessembedded in Asian notions of female beauty predate colonialismand other forms of contact with the West, the prevalence ofCaucasian models in many Asian advertisements for beauty prod-ucts raises the possibility that beauty ideals are or are becomingglobal.

8 According to a study of the Human Relations Area Filesmore than 20 years ago, of 312 different cultures, 51 used skin coloras a criterion of beauty, and in all but four of these lighter skin waspreferred (Van den Berge and Frost 1986). Russell, Wilson, andHall (1992) note that while white is associated with purity, righ-teousness, decency, and auspiciousness, black is associated withwickedness, villainy, menace, and illegality. In Asia, skin lighten-ing as well as cosmetic surgeries that provide a more Westernappearance ( , Kaw 1993; Miller 2003) have been taken by someas evidence of the global appeal of Western and Caucasian stan-dards of beauty (Goon and Craven 2003; Isa and Kramer 2003). Butothers reject this conclusion, pointing for example to the desire ofwhite Western men for the dark exotic Other ( , Hunter 2005).This is a weak argument however in that the transgressive desire forOtherness may offer an element of perceived danger and excite-ment but has hardly brought about the homogenization of skinpigmentation through widespread intermarriage of dark skinnedand light skinned the colonial era, and arguably before and after as well,rather than a homogenizing blending of skin color, there has insteadbeen an attempt to distinguish the dark Other as primitive andinferior, thereby supporting the mission of the light skinnedcolonialist to conquer and control the natives of Africa, the Ameri-cas, Australia, New Zealand, and Polynesia (Torgovnick 1990).

9 AAdvances in CONSUMER RESEARCH (Volume 35) / 445part of this project has entailed equating dark skin color with dirt,filth, and defilement (Spurr 1993). When Charles Darwin (1839)encountered the natives of Tierra del Fuego, he described them as stunted in their growth, their hideous faces bedaubed with whitepaint, their skins filthy and greasy, their voices discordant, theirgestures violent and without dignity. As Torgovnick analyzesWilliam Rice Burroughs Tarzan series, she finds that As the seriesdevelops, it increasingly affirms existing hierarchies, including thehierarchy of male over female, white over black, West over rest (1990, 46). And McClintock (1995) shows how advertisements forPears soap depict its ability to magically cleanse the body of a blackchild and make it white, vividly illustrating the ASSOCIATION ofdarkness with dirt.

10 At the same time, advertisements suggest thatthe colonial mission of civilizing native populations necessarilyinvolves imposing a global standard of Caucasian Meanings of WhitenessIn Japan, the Tokugawa government effectively sealed off thecountry from Western influence in 1639. It was not until 1853 thatCommodore Perry and his American black ships forced Japan toreopen its ports. During the subsequent period of the Meiji Resto-ration, both Japanese men and women began to self-consciouslyimitate the clothing, hairstyles, and appearance of Westerns(Wagatsuma 1967). While early paintings of Western sailors showthe men with dark tans (note too the image of black ships), Westernwomen were shown as pale and white. By the 1920s, anythingWestern was regarded as modern and desirable (Wagatsuma 1967;Kinmonth 1981). This was also the case during and followingWorld War I and World War II (Kato 1965).