White matters

Facebook has just launched an app in India that can whiten the profile pictures of Indians. This blatant and outrageous racist act is brought to you by the makers of Vaseline, the Unilever corporation, in collaboration with Facebook.

Why am I not surprised.  Multinational Unilever previously marketed a “white beauty” cream in India and it’s not the only company to do so there and elsewhere.  I wrote about this awhile back: How to do Whiteface

Now, we have a Facebook app to do whiteface.  Facebook app to help Indians lighten their skin

The Facebook app — which helps users fade out any offending pigmentation in their complexions — advertises the bleached-white features of Bollywood actor Shahid Kapur. It’s designed to promote Vaseline’s skin-lightening creams for men, and so far, according to the advertisement’s architects, response has been “pretty phenomenal.”

Take a stand against racism and protest this action by Facebook:   Tell Facebook to stop running racist application