The is a product or brand of beauty products in Japan called Asian Beauty. The spokesperson is Chen Tsui, the actress from "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon." Obviously, the woman is gorgeous and a good choice by the marketers for a front person.
What I hate about the commercial is that it usually shows caucasian women being jealous of her, giving her snide looks or getting the flap of Chen Tsui's coat in their faces. There's a series of commercials along this line.
My question is this, would Asian women actually feel better about themselves by seeing caucasian women jealous of them? I actually think that the commercial promotes the illusion that Asian women should be jealous of caucasian women and that this product is how they can compete. I also don't like the way the commercial uses some pretty obvious prejudice to promote the commercial.
Am I wrong in this analysis?I can only imagine the furor this commercial would cause in the US or Canada. My husband, who is Asian laughs at these commercials, but because he thinks it's funny that the white chicks are all pouty. Still trying to figure out his underlying ideas on that. Some other friends who are half-Japanese think it's an embarrassing commercial.
IMO it is completely stupid to compare beauty based on ethnic features. There's a range of attractiveness in every ethnic group, and really some features are so different why even bother comparing it? If you like some range of features, great!
I'm not jealous of "Asian Beauty." Sure, I wish I was as gorgeous as Chen Tsui, but then I wish I was as gorgeous as a lot of movie stars or models. Ain't gonna happen. I look like me. And I clean up okay. I also look like my grandparents and parents and so I happen to think that I didn't do too badly in the genetic pool. Promoting beauty is great (although huge issues involved in the commercialization of it) and even promoting the beauty of one ethnic group is fine. Free country, right? But what's to gain by saying one type is better? I DO NOT GET IT!