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Mass media is defined as any means of communication that has the technical capacity to provide

information to reach a very large number of persons through electronic means such as the

television and radio for example and print media which includes newspapers and magazines. The

mass media plays a major role in shaping public perceptions on issues in society both through the

information that it conveys and through the interpretations it places upon this information. Mass

media plays a role in modeling contemporary culture by selecting and portraying a particular set

of beliefs and values and household traditions as a reality. In Jamaica one dominant perception is

the color of an individualsskin which according to Robinson (2011), there is a high value

placed on Eurocentric values as it relates to skin colour and specifically in the promotion of light

skin as an indicator of beauty and social status (p.580). As a result of this skin bleaching has

become a popular culture in Jamaica and more specifically among young adults where the mass

media has served as an effective means of socialization and transmission of this popular culture

though Jamaican Dancehall music. As further implored by Robinson (2011), she noted that mass

media and popular culture share an interdependent relationship and the influential properties of

popular culture portrayed through the media plays an important role in the practice of skin

bleaching in Jamaica. The opinion that a lighter complexion is attractive and even more

controversial is that it is more attractive than darker skin is saturated in the media. In a study

done by Toure (2012), he stated that the use of mass media by corporations put across the idea of

Eurocentric beliefs which contribute to skin bleaching as television advertisements, magazine

articles depicts the idea of beauty by having a light skin complexion which he believes

compromises the beliefs of dark-skinned persons in that lighter is better. In Jamaica, the idea

of skin bleaching was popularized through the use of songs that were of the music genre of

Dancehall with the main contributor being the entertainer Vybz Kartel who himself was an avid

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bleacher. Even though skin bleaching was practiced in Jamaica even before the emergence of

Vybz Kartel, through the use of mass media this practice was put to the forefront of the Jamaican

society. The entertainer lauded the practice of skin bleaching as being a good thing and as

according to Hope (2011), even though skin bleaching was considered to be a feminized practice,

the entertainer justified the practice as being heterosexual and through his popular song Cake

Soap, which highlighted the desirability of himself to women who are attracted to his bleach out

face.

Reference

Robinson, P (2011, June) Perceptions of beauty and identity: The skin bleaching phenomenon in

Jamaica, Retrieved from

http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=petra_robinson