K-Beauty Brand Is Under Fire For ‘Blackface’ in Nail Polish Ad
K-beauty Stylenanda is being criticized for making a hand appear darker, rather than using a darker-skinned model for their 3 Concept Eyes nail polish ad.
The ad in question was for a gradient-like orange nail polish that works for lighter and darker skin tones.
People started to notice that the palm of the darker hand was quite unusual.
The bottoms of our hands and feet are covered with a thick layer of dead skin, causing UV rays to stimulate less melanin — giving the skin a lighter appearance than other areas.
As a result, netizens suspected they painted a person’s hand darker rather than hiring a dark-skinned model and were understandably upset.
Wow @stylenanda_com black people we don’t have the palm black, if you really want inclusion, hire a black model! 🤣🤣 This asian countries always so racist! (I live in Hong Kong) #stylenanda pic.twitter.com/m7xYVN870G
— Fer Rivero (@_Fer_Rivero) July 23, 2018
@stylenanda_com Did you really just spray tan “brown skin” on someone 🤦🏾♀️ https://t.co/4TRh5E30WL
— The Misses ✨ (@_thickyy_) July 19, 2018
what stylenanda did was sad as hell….either get an actual black person or just dont bother doing that at all..
— jacqui | MONSTA X SOON (@yjayful) July 20, 2018
The ad even had some people double checking their own hands.
I looked at my hand twice, turned the light on and off, and was so confused because who palm is the same color and the other side of they hand???!!!? pic.twitter.com/A99ZG5q9b9
— EJ_Lo🇯🇲🌈 (@ErronJ_) July 20, 2018
I Knows I Ain’t The Only Black Person That Looked At My Palm To Check 😂💀 https://t.co/R555qNPIwn
— Issa Libra ♎️ (@badgal_zae) July 19, 2018
Stylenanda has apologized for the incident, but their Instagram comments continue to be flooded with debate over the issue.
The product has been taken off their website, however, the images remain on the products that have already reached their customers.
