African pop singer debuts skin lightening cream, & it sells out
A Nigerian-Cameroonian pop singer is diversifying her portfolio by entering the skin care game.
Singer Dencia has just released a skin care product called Whitenicious, which is supposed to help those who use it lighten dark spots on their skin. The pictures in the advertisements, however, suggest that using the products on the dark spots results in an entirely new and much lighter complexion. From Clutch magazine:
According to its website, Whitenicious (priced between $50-$150) is a “fast acting, 7 day dark spot remover” that is “a moisturizing cream enriched with powerful natural ingredients that will nourish your skin and lighten dark knuckles, knees and elbows.” Some Nigerian beauty blogs display before and after photos of Whitenicious users showing their once luminous dark skin transformed to milky white.
“Skin toning,” as it’s called in Nigeria, is big business. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 77-percent of Nigerian women, the highest percentage in the world, use skin-lightening products on a regular basis. While some lighten their skin to adhere to a Western standard of beauty, many women bleach their skin because it affords them better marriage prospects and a greater chance at social mobility.
The product sold out in minutes. Despite the immediate popularity of the product, Dencia has been the target of some negative feedback on social media.
Is Dencia simply capitalizing on women’s desires to look more “western” in their appearance?
Should she be using her celebrity in a different, less damaging way?
Sound off below!
