Outrage Over American Ex-Stripper Blac Chyna’s Visit To Market Bleaching Cream

FUNSHO AROGUNDADE

American celebrity and ex-stripper Blac Chyna will be visiting Nigeria this weekend to promote a skin whitening cream and people are already furious.

Blac Chyna has put her finger on the pulse of colourism and controversy after it was revealed that she would be partnering with Cameroonian-born Lagos singer and socialite, Dencia to release a skin whitening cream named ‘Whitenicious by Dencia’ which will retail at $250 (N90,000).

The American model and mother-of-one has put her name to the beauty products called Whitenicious X Blac Chyna Diamond Illuminating & Lightening Cream.

In an Instagram post, Chyna encourages people to join her for the cream’s launch in Lagos, Nigeria on Sunday.

From the cream description, it claimed “Whitenicious X Blac Chyna collection was created for women of all skin tones and types who want to regain their youthful glow. Every crystal on the jar is a reminder of the diamond beauty inside everyone.”

Blac Chyna believes that being photo-ready even without makeup means being dark spot free, hyper pigmentation free and younger looking.

The cream also claims to preserve the complexion and lighten without bleaching skin out.

However with black women encouraging a natural movement, including Black Panther actress Lupita Nyong’o, who often talks about overcoming struggles she had as a child accepting her dark skin and embracing her natural hair, Chyna’s cream seems to many, a step back.

Many took to the social media to criticise the cream for being an abject rejection of their natural beauty, and they argue it posits a western notion of beauty as superior to all other forms of beauty.

Many are angry that Blac Chyna is coming to Nigeria to promote skin whitening cream and people are furious.

Others are pointing out that Nigeria has a real colourism problem – the idea that the lighter skin you have, the more beautiful/desirable you are.

Actress Kelechi Okafor wrote a thread outlining why the cream is so problematic: “Bleaching creams and the demand for them are inextricably linked to colonisation and internalised inferiority complexes. You can argue with your mother. I said what I said. If white supremacist patriarchal ideologies weren’t so successful we wouldn’t have the constant aspiration to be as closely linked aesthetically to whiteness. I aim not to shame those who bleach but rather those who are complicit in marketing it, ”Kelechi tweeted.

A Twitter user with the handle @degosTee stated: “Blac Chyna launching a skin bleaching cream is just Blac Chyna doing Blac Chyna things…the real issue here is that it’s being targeted to the Nigerian market and the fact that the villainous product will most likely sell out in Nigeria.”

But Super Eagles defender, Leon Balogun is calling on Lagosians to kick against the launch of the beauty product.

According to Leon Balogun, who is of mixed race, those behind the product are only trying to make profit by selling a false beauty ideal to Nigerians who are majorly dark-skinned.

He shared on IG: “Shoutout to @chakabars for drawing attention. Lagos, DO NOT support @blacchyna & her nonsense. Caption says it all. They only want to make profit on a false beauty ideal that is forced upon You. You are beautiful the way You are. Black is beautiful. Wear your skin like a crown #LoveYourMelanin”.

A Nigerian Doctor tweeting from Bradford, England with handle @DrOlufunmilayo said: “The uncontrolled publicised sale of bleaching creams in Nigeria is a complete national disgrace. That Blac Chyna can come all the way from US to actively promote a product that will literally ruin the lives of people is a shameful low which confirms we don’t value human lives.”

She added: “People like Blac Chyna understand the insecurities of many dark-skinned people. Coming to Nigeria is deliberate. Bleaching your skin will never solve your insecurities. That’s the sad truth. But desperate businessmen will not mind to make money even at the expense of your life.”

Music star Burna Boy has also warned Blac Chyna not to come to Nigeria to sell her products.

“Anybody who attends this event might as well commit suicide. @blachyna please don’t come to my home and sell your poison. Because the thunder that will fire you is wearing those big Balenciaga trainers,” he wrote.

The Afrobeats star went on to praise black skinned ladies, saying black is beautiful.

Meanwhile, Dencia, the major promoter of the bleaching product, is one celebrity who is quite vocal and isn’t shy to express herself anytime.

She has lashed out at those expressing outrage accusing them of silence when other companies launched their products in the country.

“I didn’t see this energy when fair and white launched their products In Nigeria, the then NAFDAC boss even attended, blogs who posted it wanna talk shit now. Whew, Chile the hypocrisy, wait nvm fair and white is white owned,” she said.

Dencia initially defended the cream and said it wasn’t marketed at a Nigerian consumer, and that they are travelling around to different countries to promote the product, which she says is American.

“No it’s not targeted to the Nigerian market, stop the ignorance, Whitenicious has store in Nigeria. Whitenicious is made and sold in America and our clients are 70 per cent Americans,” she wrote on Twitter.

No one is targeting anyone the average Nigerian can’t afford a $250 cream monthly.

In Nigeria, bleaching, lightening or whitening one’s skin is fairly common. A 2013 report by the World Health Organisation found that 77 per cent of women in Nigeria use these products.

Before her Lagos engagement, Blac Chyna, born Angela Renée White, got a whopping N10 million ($30,000) appearance fee from Play Network Africa, a network of professionals, entrepreneurs, entertainment and lifestyle enthusiasts, for two hours to host its 13th annual private pool party in Abuja on Saturday.

Blac Chyna has spent her life in the spotlight lurching from one drama to the other. From her failed relationship with rapper, Tyga to her unexpected and Ill-fated relationship with Bob kardashian and subsequent child/support battles; her name is rarely attached to anything positive.

She is not known for upholding any set of values or being a pillar of virtue. The ex-stripper has made a career of promoting herself, attaching herself to high-profile men and courting controversy but her latest business move has drawn a barrage of criticism.