Whites Only: European-owned Citra offers cash to 'whitest' students in Thailand

[Torrens54]

Simple Solution:

BLACKBALL CITRA!!!!!

Don't deal with the company and give it all possible BAD Publicity wherever you can. Send CITRA BROKE!

What a bunch of former members of the KKK.

Edited October 22, 2013 by Torrens54

[kevozman1]

I also think this whitening promotion goes too far. It reinforces a very negative aspect of Thai culture.

Have to agree with this. Not only the discrimination against darker skinned people but seeing people ducking out of the sun or not participating in outdoor activities/sports out of fear of getting a slightly darker skin tone is complete shit, seriously <deleted> that attitude.

[SjaakNL2013]

Was there about 2 months ago something witha black lady on a Dunkin Donut advertisement now the white skin of scholars is a 'hot' item.

As we all know Thailand is a Discrimination HUB. Ras, color skin, size nose, glasses and so on there is always something you can get angry over. Get a life, it's just a advertisement and a good one to if i see the inprenting.

Most of here are aliens and have a almost daily dose of discrimination.

[noitom]

Let's see what the US and other world countries say about this discriminatory racial superiority case in Thai advertising.

[jsflynn603]

That is soooooo racist.

If we Europeans run into the "solarium" for artificial sun to get brown: Is that also racist?

Nope. Since tanning, using any form of tanning light is definitely carcinogenic that's not racist, it's mere stupidity.

Edit: Oops...Kratiboy beat me to the punch on this one!

Edited October 22, 2013 by jsflynn603

[jsflynn603]

chinese, half and halfs or skin-bleached; well, not too surprised.

friend of us has a daughter who was black as southern people are when they are often in the sun.

After not seeing her a couple of years, she is now white as paper. North Sweden in winter color.

I am surprised that this is technical possible.

(she looks complete different....full body modificiation....eye, nose, face, breasts etc etc)

If you test her blood you'll likely find that she has toxic levels of mercury in her body which over time will damage her brain (remember "mad as a hatter" in Alice in Wonderland? Well, hatter's used mercury compounds to make hats.

There are really only a few chemicals that whiten skin. Mercury containing creams are extremely powerful, even when compared to doctor prescribed levels of legal chemical compounds (usually hydroquinone). Though mercury containing creams are illegal they are widely sold.

See: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2003/12/16/whitening_skin_can_be_deadly/

Though not widely advertised anal bleaching creams are very common and dark perineal/anal regions are common in many nationalities.

Just google "anal bleach" or "anal bleaching cream"

[I Like Thai]

I fail to see how this sort of thing within a single "race" can be called racist, as all Thais are arguably of the same race (allowing for the Chinese influence and centuries of cross border interaction with the rest of Asia obviously). Is there even such a thing as a pure Thai?

It may be splitting hairs in some TV'ers opinions, but I'd be inclined to describe this whole dark/white thing as ethnic discrimination as opposed to racial discrimination.

Let's see if a lily white Russian student wins the prize, but I'm sure they'll be excluded from entering........now that's racial discrimination.

What if Tiger Woods grew up in Thailand rather than the USA. If the sports college he wanted to attend offered a Golf scholarship for the whitest applicant. Would that have been fair ?

[wolf5370]

chinese, half and halfs or skin-bleached; well, not too surprised.

friend of us has a daughter who was black as southern people are when they are often in the sun.

After not seeing her a couple of years, she is now white as paper. North Sweden in winter color.

I am surprised that this is technical possible.

(she looks complete different....full body modificiation....eye, nose, face, breasts etc etc)

If you test her blood you'll likely find that she has toxic levels of mercury in her body which over time will damage her brain (remember "mad as a hatter" in Alice in Wonderland? Well, hatter's used mercury compounds to make hats.

There are really only a few chemicals that whiten skin. Mercury containing creams are extremely powerful, even when compared to doctor prescribed levels of legal chemical compounds (usually hydroquinone). Though mercury containing creams are illegal they are widely sold.

See: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2003/12/16/whitening_skin_can_be_deadly/

Though not widely advertised anal bleaching creams are very common and dark perineal/anal regions are common in many nationalities.

Just google "anal bleach" or "anal bleaching cream"

There are other ways, safer than mercury - Michael Jackson had his face lightened iteratively, this is well known, bleaching chemicals were used and laser treatments are also available. None are nice, but safety can be handled (Jacko of course went over board).

On the whole issue - it is interesting. If we take a step back, and remove the political and historical baggage of segregation, slavery and apartheid, then what are we seeing? A company that makes a product that "promises" (give or take the small print!) to provide a service, which the consumer can purchase if they wish - or not. Then as a promotion of that service they chose people that most illustrates that service as being successful (or the goal of the service perhaps).

If it was say a legal vitamin supplement that "promised" to make people fitter - and they then promoted it by offering sports scholarships, that is discriminatory against unfit, over weight, handicapped student. OK plenty of those around the world. How about if they sold cosmetics and held a beauty pageant with the prize being a full bursary? discriminatory against ugly, short or any male student?

Is it not our baggage that make one despicable and not the other?

On a second note: a lot of people are going on about sun tans in the west, and the change from "tanned skin = poor farmer" to "tanned skin = wealthy traveller". This is all well and good, but only covers people of natural white skin - a subdivision thereof. Naturally black (dark drown really of course) skinned people, Asian people, even Latino people, have the same subdivisions too although mostly it is still stuck at "darker = poorer" simply because African's don't sun bathe for a tan! In some African states, darker skin is a bonus (it shows, I guess, less chance that the imperial power that once rules them (be it Brits, French, Dutch etc) didn't use their descendant as sex slaves) - countries like Uganda, Zimbabwe, Nigeria often have very dark skinned in political office and lighter skinned further down the pole. My point here is that one sub group's change of "grading" on skin colour doesn't necessarily carry to another's - nor is that likely to change.

In an ideal world all educational sponsors would base awards on potential, knowledge and/or intellect - but why would any company do that? Some do, because they can afford to - and they can use that as a promotion of the company - these are usually companies that do not sell small products with very open competition. Also they tend to pick the types of colleges that they intend to recruit from - often Ivy League rather than some state back water school that could do with the cash. To vendors such as Unileaver (Bros.) (which actually is really a parent company of many brands - like Rentakill, Group 4, and several other European conglomerates, ) there is no advantage to doing so, but using their product's "ideal" as a competition winner, sells the product. It also gives some student funds to get educated (although I'd personally have preferred if they offered a scholarship rather than a cash prize with intent!).

Incidentally there are so many reverses of this type of thing that are accepted. I saw an advert for a job recently (I was looking for a family member on the UK Job lists on the internet), the job was for a care nurse with a local government maintained "charity" that looked after old people in the area, fine and dandy, but it went on to say only black and ethnic elderly (black not ethnic?). Now if someone had tried to set up the same for only white elderly people it would have been canned immediately - and certainly would not have gleaned council funding!

Its all baggage - baggage that needs to be let go of. While its true that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (George Santayana), it is also true that allowing that history/guilt to drag you down will only drown you and in the long run will help none. "The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears. The white man needs the Negro to free him from his guilt." (Martin Luther King Jr)

[wolf5370]

I fail to see how this sort of thing within a single "race" can be called racist, as all Thais are arguably of the same race (allowing for the Chinese influence and centuries of cross border interaction with the rest of Asia obviously). Is there even such a thing as a pure Thai?

It may be splitting hairs in some TV'ers opinions, but I'd be inclined to describe this whole dark/white thing as ethnic discrimination as opposed to racial discrimination.

Let's see if a lily white Russian student wins the prize, but I'm sure they'll be excluded from entering........now that's racial discrimination.

What if Tiger Woods grew up in Thailand rather than the USA. If the sports college he wanted to attend offered a Golf scholarship for the whitest applicant. Would that have been fair ?

No, but its not an accurate analogy either. How about, he grew up in Thailand and Dunlop Golf offered a scholarship to Chula University for the best golfer - now would that be fair? - Dunlop Golf sells golf balls - as a company they promote their brand by looking for their ideal candidate (someone that successfully fulfil the ideal based on their products - good golfer - sells gold balls). Discriminates against basketball players? How about against Muay fighters or Kaeng Ruer/Len Wow/Takro Lot Huang sportsman in traditional Thai sports?

//Edit: Miss-spelled "No" - OK it is 04:59!

Edited October 22, 2013 by wolf5370

[crumpled]

They can stuff their adverts. I don't care if they are light/medium/dark skinned. It is what is inside that counts.

[GeorgeO]

"Whites Only: European-owned Citra offers cash to 'whitest' students"

Racism is alive and well in Thailand, at least it would seem so at a corporate level anyway. Is this for real or some sort of coconuts spoof? It seems even more bigoted than the usual ads, which is saying a lot.

I find it very surprising that a European company believes it can get away with something in Thailand which would prove to be very costly in its own country; and indeed, any of its rivals could use this promotion back in Europe as a means of tarnishing the company's image, no doubt, with some success....!

[noikrit]

Bizzar how so many " white " people want to be brown ... and so many " brown " people want to be white ????? Isn't there something about Beauty only being skin deep ??? Besides we're all the same colour when the lights are off

[rametindallas]

"Whites Only: European-owned Citra offers cash to 'whitest' students"

Coconuts deliberately trying to stir it by putting "European-owned" in their headline.

I think it relevant and newsworthy that the company is European. They would not dare do such ads in Europe.

I am sure the farang general manager is having a bit of a discussion with his Thai Head of Marketing right about now.

It's a childish, bigoted and elitest advert. I am sure Unilever global won't be particularly proud of it.

It makes you wonder if they did polling before running this campaign. If they polled Anglo types, they would know how distasteful and offensive this ad campaign is but, If they polled Thais, I couldn't positively state they would see it the way we are responding on this forum. I think it's shameful but maybe, possibly, Thais don't see it that way.

[rametindallas]

I'm going to call it 'discrimination'. There is a huge divide in Thailand between the 'haves' and 'have nots'. Many of the 'haves' are of Chinese extract or even pure Chinese and they are lighter skin than the Thais. Isaan people are darker than the average Bangkok Thai and Thais in the Deep South are even darker. When I met my GF, a tanned beauty from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, seven years ago, she told me she wished she had been born white. I was flabbergasted because all the white women I knew would die to have her skin tone. I came to realize that it wasn't about the color, per se, but the opportunities available, based on skin tone, in Thailand. If you are dark skinned in Thailand, you will not get the good sales job, or supervisor's position, Thai companies don't want you as the 'face' of their company. If you are dark skinned, they want you working in the stockroom or in the factory. This is discrimination, based on skin color, that stems from the fact that the Powers That Be are light skinned Chinese. I look at Thai TV and Thai magazines and the ads, inevitably, show Thai girls that are whiter than the white European descent girls I know in Dallas. They are 'ghostly' white; it is unnatural. My GF doesn't think white skin is prettier but she knows it opens doors of opportunity that are closed tightly to dark skinned girls. It is a class/caste system based on skin tone. As a very white man of German descent, I have noticed that many Thais defer to me or give me special privilege, maybe it's because they see ATM flashing above my head or maybe it's because my white skin is perceived to be better.

This ad campaign preys on the worst of human nature and exploits the discrimination in the system. It says, "If you don't want to be discriminated against of designated as a laborer, use our product. Because, we all know the 'face' is more important than 'Character'"

[Alwyn]

""Our company has good consumer responsibility standards... We welcome all opinions and comments, but we are sincere and do not have any intention to have skin discrimination," said a Unilever Thailand spokeswoman on behalf of Citra." Did they have Brit embassy deliver this, just after their report about reducing services? Really amazing how anyone can deliver this load of manure without the smell gagging them. This is akin to saying "We don't judge based on skin color, just on how well they show up in the dark". Choosing based on whiteness is discrimination by definition. Idiots!

Why would they ask the Brit embassy about anything or to do anything? It's a Dutch company.

[Alwyn]

I fail to see how this sort of thing within a single "race" can be called racist, as all Thais are arguably of the same race (allowing for the Chinese influence and centuries of cross border interaction with the rest of Asia obviously). Is there even such a thing as a pure Thai?

It may be splitting hairs in some TV'ers opinions, but I'd be inclined to describe this whole dark/white thing as ethnic discrimination as opposed to racial discrimination.

Let's see if a lily white Russian student wins the prize, but I'm sure they'll be excluded from entering........now that's racial discrimination.

You're applying the term "race" as if it has some sort of precise scientific meaning, which it doesn't. The concept of race is a holdover from a time when humans were grouped into categories based purely on their physical characteristics (skin color, facial features), and the perceived cultural and psychological differences that went with them. As we now know these perceptions were false (skin color has no bearing on intelligence, behavior, or cultural practices), and the old racial categories have been shown to be unwieldy, scientists and social scientists have thrown "race" out.

Even if we were to apply the old racial categories here, then Thais, Chinese, Burmese, and for that matter Koreans, Papua New Guinea "Negritos," and hell, all native North and South Americans would be part of the same race (Mongoloid). I think this illustrates how absurd the antiquated racial categories were.

To answer your question, no there is no such thing as pure Thai, but then there's no such thing as "pure" anything--the genetic differences between individuals of the same race are often greater than those between "races," proving that race is a social construct with no scientific merit.

You're talking about ethnicity, not race

[Local Drunk]

Just one of the many "white washes" currently in Thailand...

[ratcatcher]

""Our company has good consumer responsibility standards... We welcome all opinions and comments, but we are sincere and do not have any intention to have skin discrimination," said a Unilever Thailand spokeswoman on behalf of Citra." Did they have Brit embassy deliver this, just after their report about reducing services? Really amazing how anyone can deliver this load of manure without the smell gagging them. This is akin to saying "We don't judge based on skin color, just on how well they show up in the dark". Choosing based on whiteness is discrimination by definition. Idiots!

Why would they ask the Brit embassy about anything or to do anything? It's a Dutch company.

Actually it's a joint operation.

• Unilever

  Company

• Unilever is an Anglo–Dutch multinational consumer goods company. Its products include foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. Wikipedia

Citra, the company in question in this thread, is Indonesian, and a division of Unilever..

Edited October 23, 2013 by ratcatcher

[me313]

If this kind of overt racist consumer promotion of a scholastic scholarship were promoted in the US, and maybe in Europe, the outrage would be tremendous. Here it's a mere debate about whether or not Thailand has racist values due to the European influence, and does all the investment of Europeans and whites have anything to do with racism here in Thailand, this is perhaps a point people should consider, since white=money, or the perception of this is made, and if you look at the reality, it's the reality. Brown and black skin means poverty for most of the world. It's just as black and white as that.

[Phil Water]

Citra appears to be a pretty disgusting corporate citizen of our world. I hope this backlash continues and their products as well as those of it's parent and subsidiries get the kind of consumer boycott they deserve.

[jackandjim]

"Whites Only: European-owned Citra offers cash to 'whitest' students"

Racism is alive and well in Thailand, at least it would seem so at a corporate level anyway. Is this for real or some sort of coconuts spoof? It seems even more bigoted than the usual ads, which is saying a lot.

racism is rodney king this is called stupidity

[harrry]

Firstly it is racism...in the broader sense and hence wrong.

It is also the smartest way I know of some pimply ad director to get the largest photo collection of Thai University beauties in micro minis that anyone could have.

Edited October 23, 2013 by harrry

[indyuk]

If you're White.........you're alright!

[dighambara]

"Whites Only: European-owned Citra offers cash to 'whitest' students"

Racism is alive and well in Thailand, at least it would seem so at a corporate level anyway. Is this for real or some sort of coconuts spoof? It seems even more bigoted than the usual ads, which is saying a lot.

As an American, this flies in the face of common sense.

My Point: For the first few centuries, immigrants to the 'colonies' were mostly men, who married local women. The same thing happene here in South East Asia - Indian men migrated into the area by ship and created all the cities of the 'Outer Indian Empire'; Angkor, Divarivati, Borobadhur, SriVajaya, et. al. Most were destroyed by the Plagues carried from China to Europe by rats on ships.

So, English folks are descended from: Angles, Saxons, Normans, Celts, Norsemen, Romans, and their slaves and concubines - a very thorough mix of all races.

Very many Americans have native, Asian or African ancestors - some have all three. Difficult to be 'White' when Great Grandma was 'Black' - RE Thomas Jefferson and the Hemings/Jefferson descendants.

[jpeg]

Dark skin makes you stupid

Try telling that to Neil de Grasse Tyson, for starters

[jpeg]

Bizzar how so many " white " people want to be brown ... and so many " brown " people want to be white ????? Isn't there something about Beauty only being skin deep ??? Besides we're all the same colour when the lights are off

I like to keep the lights ON.

[jpeg]

"Whites Only: European-owned Citra offers cash to 'whitest' students"

Racism is alive and well in Thailand, at least it would seem so at a corporate level anyway. Is this for real or some sort of coconuts spoof? It seems even more bigoted than the usual ads, which is saying a lot.

I find it very surprising that a European company believes it can get away with something in Thailand which would prove to be very costly in its own country; and indeed, any of its rivals could use this promotion back in Europe as a means of tarnishing the company's image, no doubt, with some success....!

Hardly surprising, the whole World knows you can get away with anything here in Thailand. With enough money.

NB Yes, and the exception is a 'given', for the pedants.

[indyuk]

I fail to see how this sort of thing within a single "race" can be called racist, as all Thais are arguably of the same race (allowing for the Chinese influence and centuries of cross border interaction with the rest of Asia obviously). Is there even such a thing as a pure Thai?

It may be splitting hairs in some TV'ers opinions, but I'd be inclined to describe this whole dark/white thing as ethnic discrimination as opposed to racial discrimination.

Let's see if a lily white Russian student wins the prize, but I'm sure they'll be excluded from entering........now that's racial discrimination.

You're applying the term "race" as if it has some sort of precise scientific meaning, which it doesn't. The concept of race is a holdover from a time when humans were grouped into categories based purely on their physical characteristics (skin color, facial features), and the perceived cultural and psychological differences that went with them. As we now know these perceptions were false (skin color has no bearing on intelligence, behavior, or cultural practices), and the old racial categories have been shown to be unwieldy, scientists and social scientists have thrown "race" out.

Even if we were to apply the old racial categories here, then Thais, Chinese, Burmese, and for that matter Koreans, Papua New Guinea "Negritos," and hell, all native North and South Americans would be part of the same race (Mongoloid). I think this illustrates how absurd the antiquated racial categories were.

To answer your question, no there is no such thing as pure Thai, but then there's no such thing as "pure" anything--the genetic differences between individuals of the same race are often greater than those between "races," proving that race is a social construct with no scientific merit.

You're talking about ethnicity, not race

Racism is primarily about Ethnicity. The British Race Relations Act states that racism is illegal regardless of 'Race (ethnicity) colour or creed'

This is one of the problems in Thailand. The Thai state that they are NOT racist and are Secular. Yet culturally it is clear that the Thai are racist and that their claim to be secular is highly questionable because Buddha's in Thailand openly state on Thai Television that a Buddhist should not convert to Christianity or Islam.

[indyuk]

Bizzar how so many " white " people want to be brown ... and so many " brown " people want to be white ????? Isn't there something about Beauty only being skin deep ??? Besides we're all the same colour when the lights are off

I like to keep the lights ON.

The 'Asian Brown' skin color is the most beautiful skin color in the World.

[kiwiinasia]

Most if not all of this white skin focus comes from immigrants from China.

Thai culture is not as narrow minded as its foreign cousins when it comes to skin colour.