The social media sites drew posts railing against the advert for being racially offensive and reinforcing the country's narrow beauty ideals.
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‘The advertisement for Seoul Secret's "snowz" skin-whitening pills featured a veteran Thai celebrity attributing her professional success to her pale complexion.
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The advertisement for Seoul Secret's "snowz" supplement pills featured a veteran Thai celebrity attributing her professional success to her pale complexion. "It's not easy to stay at this point for a long time," the 35-year-old Thai model and actress, Cris Horwang, says in the video.
"If I stopped taking care of my body and white complexion, all that I have invested will be gone."
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"A newcomer will replace me and turn me into a dark star," she says in the video, using a Thai idiom to refer to her fame fading.
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Advertisements for the products are standard fare on billboards and TV spots, but some companies have faced a backlash in recent years for going too far.
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'Clearly Racist'
But other social media sites drew posts railing against the advert for being racially offensive and reinforcing the country's narrow beauty ideals.
"It indicates that dark skin people are losers, and this is clearly racist," a Thai commentator named Tammaijang wrote on the web forum Pantip.
Another post said: "Having dark skin can be beautiful -- without being ashamed as well."
The skincare company issued an apology on Friday, saying in a statement that it did not intend "to convey discriminatory or racist messages".
"What we intended to convey was that self-improvement in terms of personality, appearance, skills, and professionality is crucial," the statement said.
Yet some speculated that the advertisement was deliberately provocative as part of a marketing ploy to grab attention.
"I don't think the ad agency made this ad out of ignorance," a prominent Thai culture blogger, called Kaewmala on her thaiwomantalks.com website, told AFP.
"They haven't been living on the moon, I'm certain they knew it would be controversial... It was most likely a calculated strategy, which in my view makes it even more objectionable."
While there has been a growing awareness about racism among Thais in recent years, those views have yet to be reflected in a media which still readily equates dark skin with "low class", she added.
In 2013, public criticism similarly led the US firm Dunkin' Donuts to pull an advertisement in Thailand that featured a woman in "black-face" makeup promoting a new charcoal-flavoured donut.
Thai adverts for "Black Herbal" toothpaste, as well as other cosmetic brands, have also come under fire in recent years for causing racial offence.
Source-AFP
