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Nivea slammed for stigmatising Singaporean women with dark arm pits in video for skin whitening deodorant

Body care brand Nivea has come under fire in social media and by a women’s rights group in Singapore for stigmatising women with dark arm pit skin.

A three-minute video posted on Nivea’s Facebook page features a young Singaporean woman who is shunned by members of the public because she has darkly coloured arm pits.

The response to the supposedly humorous video was mixed, but some objected to the brand suggesting that women with darker arm pits should be socially ostracised, and use Nivea deodorant as a solution to their problem. Nivea’s Extra White & Firm Q10 Deodorant contains whitening and firming ingredients.

Nivea Singapore Facebook post

Comment on Nivea Singapore’s Facebook page

Another poster suggested that is was “sad that women have been portrayed as the pariah of society just because of their dark underarms.”

One commenter wrote: “Nivea, it’s your company that’s in the dark. This sort of “humour” may have worked 20 years ago, but now I only find this tired and offensive.”

Another woman suggested that it was “cheap humour” and a “terrible message”.

Gender equality advocacy group AWARE Singapore singled out Nivea’s post, writing on its own Facebook page: “Apparently having the ‘wrong’ colour of armpit makes you unfit to interact with other human beings. This is supposedly humour – but is promoting shame and insecurity about our bodies a laughing matter? Some commenters let NIVEA know about their objections – good on them!”

Nivea has yet to respond to Mumbrella’s request for comment.

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