Monday, April 12, 2010

White Therapy



Having recently gotten into radio, I've been hearing a commercial for 비/Rain's brand of cosmetic products, 'Nature Republic.'

I used to like Rain, or at least thought the guy was respectable. He's got such a crazy testimony: his mom passed away when he was in high school, he started as a back-dancer for Park Jin Young, he's known to be an incredibly hard working person, etc... The drama "Full House" is pretty high up on my list of favorites, and his early music under JYP was pretty decent.

But ever since he branched off on his own, I shake my head more and more and am really disgusted by him. His latest publicity images are very ris-kay and even his song lyrics focus on I have no idea how he or his crew came up with this name 'Nature Republic,' but the color are much too similar to another existing cosmetics brand, and the logo looks too much like Banana Republic's.

Anyways, there's been a recent commercial for the line "white therapy." Now what does "white therapy" mean? It means using products to whiten your skin, especially your face! He goes onto say in this very commercial that darker skin tones can be okay since they're a little more "mysteriously sexy," but that whiter skin tones are much more appealing and to his own liking and "clean." Uhm... does this not bother anyone else? I'm not even a girl nor do I wish to please Rain and this really bothers me!


Yes, "feel the nature"...

8 comments:

  1. you totally called it on the resemblance to banana republic! i used to like him a lot too...i saw his new MV and i think he's going for "sexy" but it just looks kinda....gay haha

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, there ends my liking and admiration of Rain. Thanks Rain, but guess what? I was born with dark brown skin so fuck you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not a big fan of Rain, but I don't think the skin whitening thing is that big of a deal. I mean its silly, but so is going to tanning beds and using bronzer. If they were trying to look western it might be a little more repugnant, but I don't think that's the case as Koreans found "pure white skin" beautiful before the influx of western culture.

    Oh and his music video is gay, very very gay.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is pretty disgusting. But what do I care, I'm Black and happy lol. Dark skin especially in bronze or chocolate shades is beautiful and since when is Rain's "preference" anything to take seriously? More gorgeous men than him like Kim Jaejoong appreciate Black beauty, so Rain? -> to the left. I like his role in Full House though.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The fact is that the trend in Korea is whitening products. I think it has more to do with protecting against age spots and discoloration, etc, more than anything else.

    Don't take offense, people.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "I have no idea how he or his crew came up with this name 'Nature Republic'"

    nature republic isn't made by rain,

    he's only under a 2-year endorsement contract, so he's only modeling for it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. from what i know, nature republic the higher end sister brand to the face shop

    ReplyDelete
  8. hmm i've always associated darker skin w/ more exotic places. my parents have never liked dark skin and they hate when i'm tanned and i know alot of asians who think the same way...does it matter if he is vouching for something that is the preference or norm in east asian countries?

    ReplyDelete