Thailand’s Skin-Whitening Craze Reaches Women’s Intimate Areas

Thailand’s already popular market for skin whitening products is getting a new addition. Said to make women’s intimate areas “fairer within four weeks” this vaginal whitening wash  is the first to hit the Thai market.

Lactacyd White Intimate advertisements claim to make skin in that area “bright and translucent.”

In the advertisement a woman walks into her closet to change her clothes saying how “everyone wants to look good-but tight shorts can leave your skin darker.”

Louis-Sebastian Ohl of Publicis Thailand, which created the adverts, said that these “products [have] evolved from face-whitening to body and deodorant solutions to even out dark area in the armpits” and now an “intimate toiletry also offers a whitening benefit.”

Still, many health risks have been associated with skin-whitening due to ingredients such as hydroquinone and mercury, which can lead to permanent skin discoloration or kidney damage.

The male market is yet to be fully tapped, said Ohl, who added that future variants of Lactacyd White Intimate would be formulated to include anti-aging properties, “so you can keep intimate parts fresh and young.”

Thai culture is littered with pale models, actors, and celebrities that have spurred on the mass market of skin whitening. According to DRAFTFCB, the agency behind many of Nivea’s skin-lightening ads in Thailand, laborers who work outside and are prone to darker skin make up the bulk of the Thai market for the company’s face and body lightening products.

Discolored skin from these products is becoming an all too familiar sight. Nevertheless, the dangers associated with excess ‘bleaching’ have not deterred many Asians from continuing to buy. Companies selling ‘lighter skin in a bottle’ don’t seem to worry about how this is also affecting a young generation. As long as the business is doing well and money is coming in there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight.