if i gave you this picture 6 years ago and asked you and a bunch of your friends to tell me how they interpreted this picture what would you and your friends say?
"uhh....its a white f with a blue box around it?" maybe some of you would get more abstract and say, "if you turn it upside down, it would be an upside down f?" haha. but in all seriousness, there would have been no real meaning behind this picture.
i don't need to tell you what the "f" in this picture stands for. you know. you knew it before i went into an explanation. your brain looked at the "f" and said "ahhhh that 'f' symbolizes my social life, the way i stay in contact with my friends, how i can post my pictures, chat, upload videos, and be "me"....yep, its facebook!
in only 6 short years, facebook has gained 500 million members (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2366634,00.asp ) and with massive amounts of people comes massive amounts of responsibility.
yes. i am talking facebook ads. not only are many fairly pornographic...i was appalled to read this in my current issue of change.org weekly:
"This past week, Vaseline launched a controversial Facebook application that encouraged users to lighten the appearance of their skin. The application was targeted at users in India, who were asked to upload their profile photos and whiten their faces.
This isn't the first time Unilever -- which owns Vaseline -- has used less-than-discreet attempts to market the virtues of white skin in India. Back in 2008, the multinational began hawking a skin-whitening product called "White Beauty."
The difference now is that by using Facebook, Unilever has the potential to reach its more than 500 million users around the world, and spread its racially charged message that white is beautiful.
The skin whitening industry has taken off across India and other Asian countries, and creams are sold on shelves in black neighborhoods in the U.S. as well. The last thing we need is a tool on Facebook to extend this disturbing trend online.
While Unilever's application is offensive, it gives Facebook the opportunity to draw a line in the sand of what sort of applications it is willing to host, and what kind of values it hopes to advance. As the largest social network in the world, the company has an unprecedented opportunity to advance tolerance and understanding. Let's make sure it serves that purpose rather than serving as a platform for prejudice."
are we seriously coming to a point that not only are we telling people how to be, look, act, wear, ect. but we are telling them, "hey! why not physically alter the color of your skin too!"
ridiculous.
sign the petition below to let facebook know how you feel and to stop this appalling crime against humanity.
whoever said white was the norm has clearly not seen beautiful indians before. ugh. im disgusted.
http://www.change.org/petitions/view/dear_facebook_please_stop_running_racist_apps
No comments:
Post a Comment