A Life Less Ordinary

I thought the campaign against skin was exclusive to Asia and any other “third world”. But I was mistaken. The US is not spared of this demand for lighter or whiter skin. Whatever happened to our pride for our own heritage?

Search YouTube for ads and clips with the keywords skin_whitening, white_skin, glutathione (the newest phenom for whiter skin) and you get a multitude of products, theories, promotional gigs from lotions to pills. But they all have one thing in common. The desire to be something else one is not.

Looking through several YouTube clips, I came across an ad for a skin whitening salon selling the magic of glutathione. I was shocked to see several African-American celebrities claimed to be reaping from the benefits of glutathione. Janet Jackson, Beyonce, Tyra Banks, just to name the really famous ones. What was especially shocking to me was Tyra Banks being part of it. I am not aware if she endorses the product or the pills or that she even knows this ad exists with her face on it, but I was shocked.

On her show, Tyra Banks claims that she ventured into the talk show business and book writing (yes, book writing) because she wanted to be a positive influence on young Americans, who seem to be suffering from low self-esteem. That the show came about when, at one of her book-signing events, a fan with a black eye approached her and asked for advice on how to hide bruises and black eyes. She was struck by this and she vowed to raise young girls’ self-appreciation, self-esteem, and self-love.

I emailed the Tyra Banks Show to bring this ad to their/her attention. All I got in return was an email thanking me for my letter and a promise of an autographed picture of Tyra Banks to be sent to me in 4-6 weeks.

If this glutathione ad is any indication of her true self, I wouldn’t buy whatever Tyra Banks sells on her show about self-esteem.