[JSRC 학생기자]Chinese Detergent “Whitewashing” Commercial Attracts Outrage

Chinese Detergent “Whitewashing” Commercial Attracts Outrage

A Chinese detergent commercial has been criticized for being racist in recent days.
The advertisement for Qiaobi laundry detergent contains several elements seeming very offensive to many commercial-viewers. The commercial begins with a Chinese woman doing laundry and soon flirting with a black worker. When the black man tries to kiss her, the girl thrusts a detergent pod into his mouth and bundles him into a washing machine; the man spins inside the machine until it’s done. Once the machine is stopped, a good-looking Chinese man pops out with a clean, white t-shirt, and the girl pleasingly smiles at the newly changed man.
The advertisement has upset many social media users worldwide. Seyoon Lee, a freshman at Chung-Ang University, is angry about this racist advertisement. “A washing machine is for washing ‘dirty’ clothes. Cleaning a black man through a washing machine signifies the black man is ‘dirty.’ This is absurd and morally wrong as the advertisement regards the black as a dirty being.” Faith Koch, a junior at Christian Life High School, is also feeling uncomfortable about the advertisement. “I was embarrassed. It doesn’t make sense there are some thoughtless commercials still existed in this day and age.”
Some have also pointed out the lookism discrimination involved in this advertisement. Yen Cai, a Chinese exchange student at Rockford Lutheran High School, said, “The handsome Chinese man turned out from the black man is an ideal type of many Chinese girls. He has a white skin, big eyes with double eyelid and red lips. This advertisement definitely reflects the lookism which is rampant nowadays.”
The racist commercial has been airing in China since April, at least. A number of people in China and all over the world have watched it and have been outraged. The commercial has reminded many viewers the racism and lookism involved in everyday lives and has encouraged them to look back how indifferent they have been about such issues. Advertisement can be easily accessed in many aspects of the society in many different forms. Therefore, more careful and thoughtful approach is necessary when dealing with it.

Living through the LGBT Controversy


LGBTQ rights have been the center of controversy in both the United States and South Korea for a long time. Although in the past it has mostly been an issue regarding those of age, recently, people coming out as a member of the LGBT society, has taken hold of teenagers as well. To the general public, LGBT society are perceived as different, and often dirty or mentally ill. Especially to the Korean community, LGBT people face many legal challenges and discrimination not prone to the heterosexual community. Although LGBT is legal, they don’t have the same kind of protection that the heterosexual community has. In the United States, the LGBT community is conceivably larger than that of the Korean community, but that doesn’t indicate any lesser discrimination from the U.S’s public.
Recently, there has been an issue regarding transgender bathroom policies. In a Missouri high school, a transgender girl was refused access to the Women’s Locker room, due to the female students’ protests of their privacy penetrated. This is not the case in Illinois, however, nor Chicago. The federal education officials have ruled that any Illinois school rejecting a transgender student access to their expressed-gender bathroom or locker rooms without restrictions, would be regarded as illegal discrimination.
In South Korea, prejudice and criticism against homosexuality is unfortunately common. Teenage homosexuality is even more so. Although it violates the Student Code of Conduct if the LGBT students were to be discriminated by the general student and staff body, the LGBT cannot fully evade persecution. “If a transgender girl were to change inside the women’s locker room without any limits to their access, it would make all of us a bit anxious. I mean, some of us feel insecure enough as it is with changing in front of other girls, but just to allow the transgender open space with limitless capacity, is violating our privacy,” states one student from Northside College Prep. The general student body agrees that if it’ s absolutely necessary, there should be a special locker room just for the transgendered people. Some have different opinions on this matter, however. One transgender student stated, “Respecting one’ s privacy is, of course, crucial. However, respecting our self-identity is as important as well. It only makes it worse if the teachers and other people treat us differently, like we’ re special. We just want to be normal. We want to spend a non-outoftheordinary high school experience. And we can’ t do that if we’ re isolated like we belong to a different sect.”
There will be more upcoming issues regarding LGBT in the teens community. To reach a compromise, we must understand each other’s perspectives and come to respect each other’s privacies and identifications. Only then, will there be a balance between the legalities of LGBT in both the United States and South Korea.