In Côte d’Ivoire, a tik-toker has triggered a torrent of protests on social networks by promoting, her baby in her arms, products to whiten the skin of children. Despite the ban on these lightening products since 2015, they are sold all over the country, on the street or on the internet. But what upset Internet users in this Tik-Tok video is the promotion of these products for babies or young children. The shopkeeper shows the fair complexion of the baby and assures that her products are of good quality.
The affair of the moment: an Ivorian tiktokeuse who sells baby whitening products, in addition she applies it to her newborn baby! pic.twitter.com/g6Ik0Oy1pZ
— Ivory Coast Is Chic: News (@Cotedivoireoff_) October 19, 2022
However, all doctors have been warning for years about the dangerousness of these products, which often contain hydroquinone, acids, mercury, or corticosteroids. They can create complications such as diabetes, high blood pressure, infections, necrosis or even growth retardation and kidney failure.
>> Ivory Coast: one in two women depigment their skin in Abidjan
The twittos have therefore wondered on what legal basis to prosecute this woman and some have found the texts of laws that they consider appropriate: endangering others, administration of substances harmful to health.
If many women, but also men, continue to whiten their skin to obey certain canons of beauty, voices are rising more and more against this fashion effect. “Being black is not a handicap!”, protested a woman on Twitter. Others seek explanations by pointing the finger at the responsibility of advertisers, TV presenters, or models, many of whom lighten their complexion. “To fight against depigmentation, we must above all deconstruct the paradigm which consists in believing that light-skinned women are more beautiful and attractive”, advances a user, among thousands of comments.
Another thinks that women whiten their skin because“they know the privileges attached to it. Colorism [discrimination en fonction du teint] is real in Ivory Coast”, he argues, referring to the invisible privileges granted to those with lighter skin tones. Internet users generally demand more political will to remove these products from stores and markets, and awareness campaigns, especially aimed at discouraging parents who apply them to their babies.