Senegal women seem to be facing an identity crisis of sorts. Recent advertisements and posters aimed at teaching black women how to bleach their skin — and go lighter, or whiter — have now been met by a backlash of activists.
Black is beautiful, these outraged activists are claiming, according to a report by Agence France-Presse.
The cultural beauty trend toward white started a year ago, with ads in the capital Dakar for a cream called “Khess Petch” — meaning “all white” in the local tribal language, AFP reports. The ads showed before-after pictures of cream users who were black, but 15 days later, appeared with much fairer skin, AFP reports. Activists have started a counter-campaign, rooted at the website Agendakar.com.
“We were scandalized [by ads] suggesting that black is not beautiful because it recommends that young women should transform themselves in a fortnight,” said Aisha Deme, who runs the website, in the AFP report. “In spontaneous response, we wanted to elevate the black woman and we launched ‘Nuul Kukk,’ which means ‘all black.’ “
The “all black” campaign has countered with its own advertisements — these ones, of proud black women, Ms. Deme said, in the AFP report.
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Cheryl Chumley is a continuous news writer for The Washington Times. Previously, she was part of the start-up team for The Washington Times’ digital aggregation product, Times247. She’s also a 2008-2009 Robert Novak journalism fellow with The Phillips Foundation. She can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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