Coloring People

When we were little, me and my sister (the one after me as we're three) always wondered why our skin color differed - I'm quite mestiza and she's morena. She always mentioned how she wished her skin would be like mine. Despite of her envy, I'm feeling a little jealous of how she looks great with her caramel skin. As we've grown up, we learned to appreciate of how we look and found methods of keeping the way things were - better yet, improve them. One thing we always had in common is that we love taking care of our skin. We love all sorts of lotions, moisturizers, and night creams. With this, we are brand-concious. Before, we didn't really pay attention to the brands but we noticed that the more expensive it is, the more fragrant and long-lasting our skins get (guess it may just be a placebo effect). I applaud how my sister's confidence developed over the years and it's not even the arrogant, selfish type of confidence. Most of the skin products today are being advertised by fair-skinned girls. Trust me, I find them elegant but I would also find women with dark tones to be as dazzling.

Most Filipinos are morena in nature. As defined by Urban Dictionary, being told a morena is endearing as it compliments how one looks good with a naturally dark skin tone. If you live in Manila, it's disappointing to see that the beauty standard is being fair as Snow White. You'll see it in various media - magazines, billboards, newspapers, television, facebook, etc. What's disheartening is when you see commercials/shows that are perceived to be racist. You would be surprised that there are a number of Philippine advertisements which employed dark-skinned people to show that fair-skinned people are superior. As if the number of these commercials are not enough, a TV show was also broadcasted about it and I didn't even bother knowing what the story is. Want to know more about these racist Filipino ads, visit DesignPinoy. I think these types of ads are persuasive in a way that it promotes that fair-skinned people are elite. In the US, in spite of Obama being the president, we still can see how the black people are perceived - how they act, think, and talk. It may come a time that we may treat our fellow Filipinos unjustly because of judging them because of their cover.

Filipinos should know more and flaunt what we have, unlike THESE campaigns who are more proud of being a part pinoy. In a positive note, I just can't stop watching Sofia Vergara doing this funny commercial.