Media is one of the most influential factors in today's world and the age group that it has affected very gravely is the youth, that's us! Not only are they being subject to various kinds of communication through the various media but are also very greatly influenced by it. The media has played an instrumental role in defining the ways in which the youth conduct themselves and live their life. This can be in terms of their definitions of what is ACCEPTABLE and what is NOT, what RIGHT is and what is NOT.
Every time I watch my favorite show on tv, one that pisses me off is the commercial break. It happens all the time, especially when you are at the climax of what you are watching. Well, there’s not much I can do, its part of the networks’ rules I guess, and its business you know.
There are commercials on television that I always argue with my sister specially those whitening products they air on tv, every day. In the Philippines, the ideal Filipino beauty is to be fair-skinned. I’m not kidding you. In a land where everyone is born with a permanent tan, these people want to be white. Why? I think it all dates back to the Spanish rule. The lighter skinned Spanish beauties were looked up as the ideal standard of what is called BEAUTIFUL. When a Spaniard marries a Filipino, they produce a “mestizo”, a lighter skinned Filipino. Colonial mentality would idealize these mestizos as the ideal Filipino beauties with their fair skin; I don’t know what’s wrong with us people. As far as I am concern, Americans and Europeans dying to own our color, and here we are also dying to become like MJ or whatever.
Anyway, I’d like you to check this commercial from a whitening product by Vaseline(the link's below at the end of my post). The voiceover actually says:
“I love exploring new places out in the sun but my confidence is affected by my dark skin,…”
In connection to my English 5 lesson on assertion the statement I believe falls under IRRELEVANT,under the kind of statement it is a Statement of Preference.It is irrelevant because when you try to analyze the phrase given by the voiceover, the reason that her confidence is affected is because of his dark skin? How could that be pertinent? it is under the statement of preference because it is what he prefer to believe so.
The whole statement for me was scary, this woman isn’t concerned with the tan lines, and she’s more concerned about getting dark all over. Imagine what kind of a message this sends to young Filipina females in our country? It’s like saying that DARK is BAD and WHITE is GOOD. This is very sad.
Here’s another phrase that catches my attention:
“..the whiteness stays and stays..”
This statement here is MISLEADING and the kind of statement is Statement of Opinion. First, it is still yet to be verified and it need to be proved, I do not and never will believe that a mere lotion, no matter how expensive it may be, can keep me white forever? And; second, how could a tan, morena or brown – whatever you call it – Filipina who applies whitening lotion becomes white for good? I believe that whatever your color is, not unless you undergo a surgery from Belo, It is impossible for it to whiten permanently just because of a lotion.
That’s all I can share as for the moment. I just love arguing with those deceptive and fake commercials who are actually exaggerating things on television. All they want is to convince the viewers (market) to buy their product even if most of them are just faking it. At the end of the day, what matters most is that, you should love yourself and just thank God for what He has given you. Besides, it's the inner beauty that really counts.
It’s a blessing. Remember, Europeans and Americans are dying to have a skin tone like ours.
Here's the link of the commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rswz0sghYCw
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