Korean makeup brand Elisha Coy enters US market w/ "Do you wanna be white?" tagline

[mspopstar.livejournal.com]

A Korean skincare company has a pressing question for its American customers: Do you wanna be white?

This is a tagline for Elisha Coy’s Always Nuddy Complete Correction, or “CC” cream, as seen at New York's New Koreatown Plaza in Flushing, Queens.

Maybe the advertising team forgot that this ad was scheduled to run in America where minorities are hyper-aware of race, colorism (even if they don’t know that word specifically, they know how it feels to be discriminated based upon skin color) and kind of like being their own ethnicity. Or maybe Elisha Coy's international marketing team hoped that consumers would care more about aspirational pale skin tones than a message implicitly telling them that their natural skin color just isn't enough? Someone should share with the brand that U.S. advertisers sell European beauty standards through imagery — like rarely including ethnic models in major runway shows during Fashion Week — rather than outright demeaning ad copy.

Noonchi, a Korean culture website, bitingly called this flub the "perfect advertisement—it sells an impossible dream while also making its potential consumers feel worse about themselves."

Jezebel

Oop @ the marketing team. Mess

Comments

[koushiba.livejournal.com]

Oh.
For some reason I thought they were Japanese.

[torontok.livejournal.com]

Always Nuddy
English is my third language but im pretty sure thats not a word.
smdh, is amrket research not a thing for these companies? This might fly in east, south and south-east asia but definitely not in the american market.
reminds me of an ad thats airing in my country rn with the tagline 'Now all of Pakistan will be fair(white)"

[tempestdance.livejournal.com]

ugh of course let's reinforce that idiotic idea of koreans want to be white through ps and make up

[rosetta16.livejournal.com]

someone fire the marketing team please, and everyone working for the company in the usa and not getting this will start something bad

[uledy.livejournal.com]

i don't know this product but it's a possibility they meant skin brightening, not bleaching. and if that's the case, based on the population in flushing and folks that hang out there, i'm sure they'll understand it to have that meaning and it won't bring any controversy. if that's not the case, they still have a market in flushing and probably won't bring any controversy.

[hinadori.livejournal.com]

IA on Flushing. Seems like their target consumer are East Asians and most hold the same colorist values as the Koreans. Now if they were trying this at a store on 5th Ave or something then...

[yakuniku-8.livejournal.com]

yeah, I don't think it's really the color white. some international brands sell the same product everywhere, and in Asia it's gonna be promoted as whitening but in western countries they will say it's to reduce scars, to brighten the skin,...

[sailor-goon.livejournal.com]

It might be a good idea to hire people that are familiar to the customs and ways of the country that you're aiming to sell your product.

[crypticbluerose.livejournal.com]

Agreed

[uledy.livejournal.com]

the thing is- i don't think they need to. flushing is predominately asian (east asian, i believe) and many of the products and stores there are just c+p from their country of origin. for example, the nature republic in flushing is exactly like nature republic in korea- same promotions, advertising, signage, products, ect. everything is in korean and the staff are at varying levels of english proficiency. i don't think this is a case of attempting to bust into the us market and flopping, but simply a case of selling products to communities where they already have a pre-existing market. i wouldn't be surprised if "do you wanna be white" is their korean tagline, tbh.

[devourlove.livejournal.com]

mte

[jrt131n.livejournal.com]

That tagline....is not a good look.

[cuizy.livejournal.com]

wait are they actually serious about a US entry? Or is it just their Korean ad moved here?

[cherrypop.livejournal.com]

It's not even the fail marketing that bothers me.

It's Korea's obsession with "white"ness. I'm sorry. Is whiteness somehow superior?? Does it make you "prettier"? Are you not satisfied with the skin color you were born with and if so why?

Any brand in fact that sells a "skin color" (that includes brands that sell "tans") are pretty questionable to begin with because by doing so it implies the skin color one was born with is not good enough.

[katzsong.livejournal.com]

As a south-east Asian, and have other Asians friend, I can tell you that being "fair" is still preferable here. I do prefer a bright skin, as oppose to dull skin. Not necessarily "white as western skin".

[cherrypop.livejournal.com]

I'd like a sensible explanation as to why it's preferable. And what exactly constitutes "dull" skin?

[duriancake.livejournal.com]

it's been mentioned in some other comments, but as far as i know, most east asians consider being fair-skinned to be preferable because it's associated with being rich: a throwback to the days when a significant portion of the population worked outside on farms and thus tanned a lot, whereas people who were rich (i.e. didn't have to work outside) were fair-skinned. even though that's not really the case anymore, fair skin still tends to be associated with being rich, I guess? :\

[katzsong.livejournal.com]

Just as it was mentioned by others, fair-skinned considered as the upper class of society. It's a cultural thing, like the royals back then have fairer skin (and have recipes to keep their skin fair), while peasants/working class have darker skin. It's supposed to be not relevant now, but the perspective it's like etched in our DNA or something. I also feel that people (well, stranger mostly) have treated me differently when I have fairer skin, or a more tanned skin. A bit sad, but that's how things roll here
As for dull skin, it's my own perspective. It's more about healthy skin. I know some people who has tan-colored-skin but their skin look very healthy, like shiny (have a shine), clean, and looks very hydrated (not dry). Dull is the opposite of those. I want to have that kind of skin now, which more related to being healthy, but still I honestly cannot shake off my preferences for being normally fair. Like South-East Asian fair, not pale-fair.
Hope you understand what I'm talking about.

[chloeflynn.livejournal.com]

'Fair' skin (ugh I hate that term) is seen as 'preferable' because south asian / asian minds are fucked up from a couple of centuries worth of colonial hangover, because if you're not pale (and yes, I mean 'south asian' pale, or 'fair' or 'wheatish' or whatever other godawful term ), society and media hammers it into your head that you're good enough, and that skin whiteners, bleaches, 'fairness' creams are what will fix your face (and by extension your social standing, job, marriage, life, etc). Using the terms 'dull' vs 'bright' as descriptors for skin is no better, imo ; it has very little to do with the 'quality' of skin, as some commenters here seem to claim. If you were to survey people, show them a bunch of pictures of pale vs dark skinned faces and ask them to classify them as 'dull' or 'bright' , no surprise, you'd find significantly more dark skinned people in the 'dull' category.

[evilvalenstrife.livejournal.com]

I've heard that it's because white is seen as pure, so to speak. I don't know much more on this that I can share. Sorry. >_

[cherrypop.livejournal.com]

Yes, but you know what? New York isn't everywhere in the world and when you say "Do you want to be white?" regardless of the intent, it doesn't inflict on people this sense of "OHHHH I get what they mean!" because not everyone *knows* about Korea's beauty standard. They see something else entirely and deserve any anger / offense they feel.

[princetabi.livejournal.com]

I wonder if they will even sell these in mainstream American stores. I see these kinds of products all the time in stores that aim for an East Asian demographic. I've also seen products that specifically say "whitening" (like the face masks my mom buys). But yeah 'want to be white' is the dumbest tag line ever.

[paper-palms.livejournal.com]

Oh my... Welp, you tried it, Korea.

doesn't seem like a legitimate entry

[fullmoon-secret.livejournal.com]

you would think if a company want to enter a new territory, they would at least do some research first. Unless, this is just their way to create sensationalism. If that's their intend, they definitely got some omonas talking

[cherrypop.livejournal.com]

It's kind of disturbing how the comments in Omona have all but avoided the fact that it's promoting "white"ness and instead focused on the marketing aspect (that's not the point).

[ladydess.livejournal.com]

That was my exact thought. A lot of people avoid talking about race because it opens a can of worms or it makes them feel uncomfortable. It's easy to avoid such topics especially when they're not the ones suffering from that type of discrimination and they are uncomfortable because the enjoy the privileges and rarely speak up about the injustices.

[love-keiko.livejournal.com]

yeah i'm side-eying some of these comments.

who here was born yesterday? ya'll dont kno what "white" means?

and speaking as someone who actually works in advertising this is some bullshit. when u're entering another market companies DO seek ties with agencies within that country. and this isn't some quick thing, either---clients sit with their teams, come up with concepts, come up with images and copy to support that content, and are SUPPOSED to pass it through legal before in sees the public eye.

these type of campaigns can take MONTHS to push out r some of u REALLY trying to act like u DONT kno what it means when u see an ad aimed at an american audience asking ppl if they want to be white?! REGARDLESS OF WHO YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE IS u always create your campaigns to be as inviting as possible. r asian americans supposed to look at this and feel INVITED?! shit---even skin whitening creams in nigeria dont advertise like that!

some of ya'll need to quit bullshitting and just call it what it is. fail, racist, marketing. regardless of what this company may have INTENDED the RESULTS r hurtful not only to them but to their target audience as well.

[45s.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I seriously do not think this is some careless accident lol

[seroquels.livejournal.com]

I thought I was tripping or overly put off by the comments here. Like wtf, this isn't just an "oh it'll be okay, cuz they're trying to reach SE Asians in the area." Like, who cares if their target isn't going to raise a stink, a stink still needs to be raised bc this is just flat out wrong.

[devourlove.livejournal.com]

don't they always? lol

[eijem-sawada.livejournal.com]

should've been something like, ''do you wanna have a brighter skin'' - that wouldn't be bad. I've seen those tag lines on whitening or anti-dark spots creams.

''do you wanna be white'' sounds extremely wrong. tsk tsk

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

Mess

[luvey.livejournal.com]

usually when companies go into another country, they do certain research and even have to change the names of their products because it doesn't translate well.

whether or not this company wants US entry or just Flushing, either way it comes out very very wrong. And even if it was just for Flushing, obviously it's faux pas has made the rounds and acknowledgement outside of Flushing because of it's wrongness.

a little market research can be priceless to avoid the negative publicity, especially for a country that is fairly well known to be multicultural/multiracial.

[love-keiko.livejournal.com]

ew at jezebel using "minority"---what year is this? and "hyper aware" like, sis---i am a black women---my race precedes my gender even when i dont want it to what is this mess of a journalist article?

still FAIL marketing all around. reminds me of the stupid shit that vogue italia likes to pull on the regular lest ppl forget that it fucking exists.

[angela-derp-otp.livejournal.com]

The ad is a mess but Jezebel is a mess too.

We know who their target is but still promoting whiteness like that is unacceptable.

And because someone asked in one of the previous comments, usually (at least in Korea), when a product says 'whitening' what they really mean is you could say brightening, or more like, the product evens out your skin tone, not actual bleaching, unless the product is made for that purpose. So don't worry about the health implications of that, on the other hand western products that say 'whitening' make sure to read the ingredients because well, those actually mean actual bleaching lol.

[45s.livejournal.com]

There is a ton of other words they could have used to advertise their product as a bleaching (whatever "brightening" which is garbage but whatever).

Choosing that specific term is not an accident imho

[dreameth4.livejournal.com]

i mean, i went to flushing for the first time just two weeks ago (after a couple of months of directing really cute old east asian ladies on how to go from manhattan to flushing, queens when on the streets), and i'm believe i saw a lot of beauty ads that looked like that :| i also didn't see any white or black ppl, justtttt east asian ppl, mostly chinese???

i don't think it'll bother people living there necessarily, because the place is often teeming with immigrants who have ideas about whiteness and beauty that have been developed in countries that are not the USA, but it's a no fly in other markets, especially the rest of nyc.