WHAT comes to mind when you picture an ugly woman? Does she have crooked teeth? Pimples all over her face? Coarse hair? Dark skin? The truth is that nothing defines “ugly” because people are beautiful in their own way.
Beauty knows no race or skin colour, but perhaps this doesn’t really rhyme with certain individuals, like popular cosmetics millionaire Datuk Aliff Syukri.
The founder of the D’ Herbs cosmetics company Aliff is no stranger to influencing consumers that being fair is the way to go or otherwise you’ll forever be a misfit in society.
Well, that’s the message I have come to understand from his marketing strategies.
He took things up a notch recently when he labelled a woman “ugly” on live television.
Aliff is the sponsor of reality talent show Gegar Vaganza Season 5 on Astro. He was given a few minutes to market his latest whitening product before the audience.
The flamboyant businessman said he wanted to choose “an ugly woman” in the audience for a live product demonstration. Host of the show Jihan Muse appeared a little shocked and was heard shouting “ugly?!” in the background.
So the cameras followed Aliff and instantly he found his ideal “ugly woman” in the audience. He started applying a whitening product on her face all the while telling the audience that this woman could go from zero to an instant babe just by using it.
ONLINE CRITICISM
Netizens were angry and he received a barrage of criticisms due to his choice of words and for humiliating the woman. Shortly after, Aliff apologised and explained that the “ugly woman” was in fact one of his employees who had agreed to be a part of the shenanigans, and that it had all been set up. He also claimed that he wanted to use the word “kusam” (dull) but had struggled to find the English equivalent for the Malay word. Thus he blurted out “ugly”.
I respect the fact that he apologised but would he had done so if it weren’t for the wrath of Netizens? If he struggled to speak in English, why didn’t he just carry on in Malay and use the exact word he had in mind? That would have saved him from all this drama. Even if the whole thing had been staged, why did he opt for this approach?
At the end of the day, he is still promoting the fact that fair is beautiful and ugly is dark. I mean, so what if a person has dark skin? Beyonce doesn’t exactly have fair skin and neither does Meghan Markle but would he dare call them ugly?
Many people were offended by his choice of words because they have moved past the obsession with fair skin.
Many celebrities and beauty icons have talked about celebrating diversity in skin colour and in recent times, multiple cosmetic brands like Fenty Beauty have released foundations with a wider range of shades to suit every skin type as well, which only goes to show that this perception of fairness is (slowly but surely) becoming a thing of the past.
I am disappointed in Aliff because someone as successful as him should know better. He has such a strong influence on social media and he should be advocating something more positive instead of poking fun at others for having dark skin.
Money can’t buy you manners nor can it buy you class. Aliff may be a wealthy man, but it doesn’t entitle him to discriminate others. Even though the “ugly woman” knew what she was getting herself into, she represents girls who may have similar looks. How would they feel?