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OpenMP Calls For Use Of Dark-Skinned Models In Adverts To Combat Skin Bleaching
Harare East Member of Parliament, Kiven Mutimbanyoka (ZANU PF), has called for the inclusion of dark-skinned girls in billboards, television adverts, and promotional posters to discourage women from bleaching their skin.
Speaking in the National Assembly recently, Mutimbanyoka argued that the widespread use of light-skinned models in advertisements pressures dark-skinned girls to resort to illegal skin-lightening creams.
He said this issue could be addressed by replacing light-skinned models with dark-skinned ones in public media and advertising materials. Said Mutimbanyoka:
If we are to dismantle the skin-bleaching industry, we must redefine beauty standards through strategic advocacy and inclusive representation.
This means mainstreaming dark-skinned beauty in media and advertising, ensuring that billboards, television, and fashion industries showcase models and influencers of all skin tones rather than perpetuating eurocentric aesthetics.
Governments and public health institutions must work alongside media houses, influencers and cultural leaders to reshape public perceptions and affirm that all skin tones are equally beautiful.
True transformation will only be achieved when diversity is celebrated rather than corrected.
Mutimbanyoka asserted that skin bleaching poses a health risk to women and unborn children, noting that socialites and influencers are actively promoting skin-lightening products on social media. He said:
This House cannot afford to remain silent while unscrupulous traders profit off the suffering of our people, while socialites poison the minds of our youth and while unborn children become victims of this epidemic before they even draw their first breath.
The time for decisive legislative action is now. We must criminalise the sale and promotion of illegal skin-bleaching products, enforce stricter penalties on offenders, and hold influencers accountable for glorifying a practice that is mutilating our people.
Failure to act is not just an oversight; it is a betrayal of our duty to protect the health, dignity and future of Zimbabwe. The fight against skin bleaching must begin with a robust and targeted educational campaign aimed at dismantling the dangerous misconceptions fueling this crisis.
Consumers must be equipped with accurate, science-based knowledge on the correct use of skin care products.
The legislator further claimed that light-skinned women often have easier access to jobs and opportunities than their dark-skinned counterparts, as men now tend to prefer light-skinned women, making it the prevailing standard of beauty. He said:
Skin bleaching is not simply a personal choice but a symptom of colourism, a deep-seated hierarchy that equates lighter skin with beauty, status and power.
This damaging mindset, reinforced over generations, thrives today as men continue to uphold the myth that fairer complexions are more desirable.
In Zimbabwe, terms like “yellow bone” expose how male preferences pressure women to alter their appearance, often at the cost of their health.
The disparity is stark: lighter-skinned women gain easier access to jobs, relationships and social capital, while darker-skinned women face systemic exclusion, branded as less attractive or valuable.
‘The psychological damage runs deep, with many women conditioned to see their natural skin as a barrier rather than a birthright.
Though often treated as a modern trend, skin bleaching’s roots stretch back to historical systems that tied privilege to proximity to whiteness.
Today, this warped logic fuels a booming industry, profiting from insecurity and perpetuating the lie that self-worth can and should be lightened.
The result is a cycle of harm, sustained by male-driven beauty standards that treat skin tone as currency in a rigged game of social acceptance.
Madam Speaker, the global skin-lightening market thrives on colourism, aggressively marketing these products as a gateway to beauty, success, and social mobility.
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