Blac Chyna has been controversial for as long as she has been a public figure, so it's no real shock that her newest business venture sees her partnering with other controversial figures. No, she hasn't patched things up with the Kardashians. She's teamed up with Cameroonian pop princess Dencia to promote her skin bleaching cream.
Dencia claims her skin bleaching cream is only meant to treat dark spots and hyperpigmentation, but she's got a history of actions that seem to suggest otherwise. She has been very publicly critical of award-winning actress Lupita N'yongo for preaching acceptance of dark skin as beautiful. Dencia fired off a rant claiming "the white man pays her, they own her!" then called Lupita's fans "stupid fools." She ended her tweet storm by shouting about how much money she has.
There's also Dencia's appearance to consider. She says her cream isn't meant for lightening your whole body, but the change in her appearance and her ads suggest otherwise.:
Notice it says "say goodbye to pigmentation" not hyper-pigmentation.
When Whitenicious (nope, not kidding, that's the cream's name) needed a new spokesperson, they turned to Kardashian-ex Blac Chyna. Chyna hopped on board as a model who will promote the product in Nigeria... and people are FURIOUS. Not just regular furious, though. They're furious on multiple levels. It's anger with layers. First of all, Blac Chyna supporting colorism and the inherent racism that goes with it has people angry. Secondly, Nigeria is literally the poorest nation in the world according to the UN. Many of the people there have nothing, or close to nothing. Taking a longstanding societal issue that they are working hard to get over and using it to try and turn a profit off of them seems like the worst kind of exploitation. That holds especially true since the product is priced at $250.00 PER JAR. Also, Blac Chyna is a naturally lighter-skinned woman from a place where systemic colorism is not an issue the way it is in Nigeria. Why be the face of a product that she would never "need" (using that term about as loosely as humanly possible as it's not really like anyone NEEDS Whitenicious.)
Anyway, Blac Chyna announced her partnership with Whitenicious via Instagram.
Notice the difference in tone between Chyna's post and the official Whitenicious post.
People hated it so much that Blac Chyna ended up turning the comments off. No problem - people just hopped on Twitter to talk about it instead. People from all over the world - up to and including Nigerians - are talking about it.
More than one felt like Blac Chyna wasn't the real problem.
We want your thoughts. Are you angered by Blac Chyna's actions - or is it just another celebrity endorsement in your opinion? Do you have any experience with colorism? See you in the comments!
H/T: Twitter, BBC, Nairobiwire
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