The female perception of colourism based on beauty standards defined by the online marketing of skin-lightening products on Instagram

Abstract

Colourism is a global phenomenon that has historical roots in colonisation and slavery, creating skin tone stratification that puts lighter-skinned on top and darker-skinned at the bottom, consequently excluding people of colour from various social spheres. Colourism has direct implications on beauty standards, especially for women, who are the main victims. As a consequence, many women of colour resort to harmful skin-lightening methods with the desire to climb the social ladder, and many such products are advertised and marketed through social media platforms like Instagram. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with young women of colour and through an online questionnaire, this study explores the perpetuation of colourism in contemporary society, specifically on social media. Additionally, it investigates how social media shapes and influences female perception of beauty standards and colourism through the online marketing of skin-lightening products, with a focus on Instagram. The study finds that social media platforms, like Instagram, are significant contributors to shaping beauty standards that are often Eurocentric, propagating colourism, however, not necessarily, through the online-marketing of skin-lightening products.