我加入了Delisewa Motha准将的队伍 I'm joining Brigadier Delisewa Motha,
他是约翰内斯堡附近威特班克的警察局长 head of the police in Witbank, close to Johannesburg.
她和她的团队要去突击检查五个经营场所 She and her team are about to raid five premises.
并不是去寻找毒品或枪支 She's not looking for drugs or guns,
而是美容产品 but beauty products.
我们现在正进入商店 So we're going inside the shop right now,
准将正寻找售卖 the Brigadier's looking for someone selling
非法皮肤美白产品的商家 the illegal skin whitening products.
我是警局局长Motha准将 I'm Brigadier Motha, the station commander.
这些产品是违禁的 These products are banned.
售卖声称能够 It's illegal to sell any cream
美白或照亮皮肤的面霜都是违法的 that claims to bleach or lighten your skin.
好像她并不知道 It's like she wasn't aware
她不应该在商店里售卖这些东西 that she's not supposed to be selling this in the shop.
我们已经没收了一些 We've just confiscated a few,
我想这里面十有八九是皮肤美白面霜 I think six or seven of these skin lightening creams.
美白面霜是一项大生意 Skin bleaching creams are big business.
最近的研究表明 A recent study suggested
有三分之一的南非女性会购买它们 one in three South African women buy them.
打开仓库门 Open the storeroom for us.
开门 开门 Open it. Get the door open.
你站在柜台后 The fact that you're behind the counter,
的事实意味着 it means you are fully
你要为店里发生的事情负责 accountable for what is happening in the shop.
它们是违禁品 因为科学家说如果你使用它们 They are banned because scientists say if you use them
你就可能患上皮肤癌或其他严重问题 you risk getting skin cancer, and other serious conditions.
但是准将告诉我 But the Brigadier tells me
只要警方没收这些面霜 as soon as the police confiscate the creams,
供应商就会重新进货 the vendors restock.
警察很难弄 It is hard to police
因为这些并不是南非产品 because these are not South African products,
它们都是进口的 they are all imported.
那么为什么你觉得 So why do you think there's
美白产品的数量有所上升 a rise in these skin whitening products?
我是指突袭中查出了525件产品 I mean, there's 525 products, here, from the raid.
有需求 是因为有需求 It is a demand. It is because of a demand that is there.
来自全球的的美白面霜被走私到这里 Skin bleaching creams made all over the world are smuggled here.
这是一种国际现象 They're an international phenomenon.
在非洲尤为明显 Big in Africa,
但是亚洲欧洲美洲都有 but also Asia, Europe, and America.
作为一个深肤色的孟加拉人 Growing up as a dark-skinned Bangladeshi,
使用它我会感到有社会压力 I felt the social pressures to use them.
但是南非的使用量有所上升让我很吃惊 But I'm surprised their use is on the rise in South Africa,
那里的黑人赢得了政治权利 where black people won the struggle for political power.
在约翰内斯堡的市中心 In downtown Johannesburg,
法律完全遭到蔑视 the law is openly defied.
非法的面霜真的是无处不在 The illegal creams really are everywhere.
我的天啊 我站在水果摊贩旁边 Oh, my goodness. I'm standing right next to some fruit vendors,
在它们中间 你能看到 and in the middle of it, you just see...
美白面霜 skin whitening creams.
它正被大量销售 It's being sold in mass.
我走过的每个街区都在卖这个 Every block I walk up to is selling this.
为什么? 我 Why? I'm...
走开 Go on.
好吧 我们被赶走了 OK, we just got kicked out.
他们干的是见不得人的事 所以 They're up to no good, so...
他们不希望我们出现 they don't want us here.
我来到了学生区 I've come to a student area
去见见想要变得更白的人 to meet someone who's trying to look lighter.
这是Jeff This is Jeff,
19岁的市场营销学生 a 19-year-old marketing student.
他告诉我他已经使用美白面霜长达两年 He tells me he's been using skin bleaching creams for two years.
它对你有用吗? And it's worked out for you?
有用 让你看看之前的我 Yeah. Let me show you the before.
哇哦! Whoa...!
完全不一样 That's totally different.
就像两个人一样 It's like a different person. Yeah.
以前这样你有什么不满意吗? What did you not like about this?
当我把之前的我和现在比较 我感觉 When I compare myself to now, I feel like...
我现在更加引人注目了 ..I'm more appealing now.
为什么? 因为我更白了! 对 Why? Because I'm lighter! Mm. Yeah.
今天是周五 派对之夜 It's Friday, and its party night.
这才是大学生活! So it's the college life!
对 人很多 Yeah, excuse the mess.
This is where...
Where all the magic happens?
Er, yeah.
Jeff's getting ready for a big evening.
I have a little something mix every night before I go out,
for my skin. It's Lemonvate.
Yeah. Then I just mix it all together.
He mixes lemon, sunscreen, and Lemonvate,
a cream many South Africans use as a skin lightener,
Even if its packaging makes no such claim.
Yeah, then I'm good.
Jeff's ready for action.
Oh, yeah?
So how are you doing?
Jeff's convinced having
lighter skin is the secret to his success.
Chanting
A lot of other young South Africans
would agree that it's a plus in the dating game.
I want to know why.
I've heard of a singer who's famous in South Africa
for transforming the way she looks with skin bleaching products.
I'm about to meet with local celebrity Mshoza.
She's an icon here in South Africa.
Hi, how are you? I'm good, Mshoza!
Mshoza's one of the country's biggest female rappers.
Rap beat
She raps
Mshoza was a township girl
who had a smash hit single as a teenager.
She then disappeared from the public eye,
and a new, much lighter Mshoza then reappeared.
You have a line missing there.
OK, I tell you what, can we try something?
Yeah. Go in there, I'll talk to you.
Producer Gabi Le Roux and Mshoza are working on a new track.
Rapping
Mshoza's rags-to-riches story
makes her a role model for many young South Africans,
and she's as famous for her skin bleaching as for her singing.
We agreed to meet the next day.
I join her at an upmarket spa.
She's getting ready for a photo shoot
to endorse a new skin bleaching cream.
Mshoza says she uses skin
bleaching creams for a medical condition,
but accepts that her new look has helped reenergise her career.
She admits young South Africans will copy her.
Mshoza's PR manager, Xolile,
says celebrities need to look lighter.
Pearl runs the company that makes the products
that Mshoza's going to endorse.
Why?
Right.
Wow, there's different levels of lightness?
What are you going to use on Mshoza today?
I think this one.
This is the most intense one. Yes. Yeah.
Mshoza's make-up artist, Kim, describes herself as yellow bone,
slang from the American South,
meaning light-skinned black woman.
.. beautiful. That's why I look up to you,
and Naomi Campbell, and...
When you walk in the bar, or a club, and you're yellow,
people notice you.
"Oh, yellow bone, yellow bone." "Yeah, she's light-skinned."
You know what I'm saying? You, kind of, like...
You are more visible to people. Yes.
You know what I'm saying? And even when you go to interviews
and you're slightly fair skinned,
you know, you probably
will get 50% chance of you getting the job.
So it's got a huge impact on how people treat you as well.
I feel like it will never really come to an end
as long as White is labelled as the perfect race.
It'll never come to an end.
The team get Mshoza ready for the camera,
and use some of the new cream.
I'm starting to think that the cream is not above board.
What did you just put on your hands?
Oh, there's hydroquinone in it?
I don't know, but it's...
Hydroquinone penetrates the skin,
and suppresses the production of the skin pigment melanin.
Scientists have linked it to skin cancer.
It's banned, except as a medicine.
How do you think young black girls are going to respond
to you promoting...
I can't stop them from doing it.
It's happened already.
They are doing it. They are using products,
but they're just using products that are not good for them.
So with me saying use this,
I'm basically saying, if you're going to do it,
do it the right way.
This is the right product to use.
I kind of like got lost, cos you're talking too much!
Oh, my god, let's ride!
We head to a TV studio,
where Mshoza's about to perform her new track on live TV.
I've been pretty shocked by what I've heard in the spa
about the advantages of skin lightening.
Mshoza and her entourage take it as a given
that being whiter helps you be more successful.
4...
3...
2...
1...
Music starts
I want to know what Mshoza's producer, Gabi, thinks.
He's one of the most experienced men in the music business
in South Africa.
Millions will watch.
Mshoza's an all singing, all dancing advertisement
for skin bleaching.
But I want to know more about its risks.
Let's see...
Zinkle Msomi is a hospital cleaner
who's come to see Professor Ncosa Dlova, a top dermatologist.
Ok.
Zinkle has used illegal skin bleaching creams
that contain cortisteroids.
They've contributed to this painful condition.
Professor Dlova did a recent study,
suggesting 90% of women
bleaching their skin didn't know the risks.
OK. All right.
Professor Dlova gives her a prescription
to ease the discomfort.
OK, thank you very much.
Is it hard for you to see patients like that?
I ask her about the active ingredients
in the creams that lighten skin.
Its Mercury, it's hydroquinone, it's phenol,
and its steroid, corticosteroid-containing creams.
So when you lighten the skin,
you basically remove the melanin that is protective to your skin,
and prevents damage from ultraviolet rays,
and getting skin cancer.
It's astonishing to her
that people would risk cancer to be whiter.
I just wanted you to take a look and just...
You know, have you seen products like this,
and do they raise your suspicion?
I show her the products Mshoza's endorsing.
It just says "Halfcast White Cream."
I don't know what that means.
And it doesn't say what it contains,
so if you test these, and then you find the banned compounds,
then you can make a case for it.
Even though it's after hours,
she persuades her colleagues in the lab to test the product.
We give samples of the creams to other reputable labs...
..And we are told we'll get the results in a few days.
Meanwhile, I catch up with Jeff.
He wants to make it as a rapper,
and today, he and his friends are shooting a music video.
OK, let me just start from the beginning.
Just sing it out, sing it out.
# One boy, gonna die rich,
# I'm self-made, got the sauce.
# Judge me, then dig me, this diggery got the sauce... #
He sees being a light-skinned performer
as a great way to get female fans.
Girls, especially girls, they like rappers that are attractive.
And attractive means light-skinned?
Yeah, and by attractive I mean light-skinned, with a beard.
They laugh
# Don't talk about ketchup.
# Don't talk about ketchup cos I got the sauce. #
Jeff's already got 16,000 Instagram followers.
All right!
His friend, Aura, a model,
tells me she doesn't use skin bleaching creams,
but understands why others do.
People always go about yellow bones,
you know, these lighter girls,
it's always appreciated, or accepted, or wanted.
You know, girls that are lighter are prettier.
And there's US influence.
Beyonce describes herself as yellow bone
in the single, Formation, everyone's listening to.
It's so sad, because now all these other girls who are not light
are going to try and go out there and do stuff like, you know,
skin bleaching, just to look lighter,
and be accepted and seen as beautiful.
Jeff's beginning to open
up more about why he wants to look lighter.
He tells me he went to a private school
where he was one of the only black kids.
I kind of stood out a bit...
..I don't think for the right reasons at that time.
So they would tease me, comments every now and then,
but you could feel that... It hurts! Yeah.
Just laugh along, just to...
Yeah, I know how it feels.
My friends also, like, had girlfriends and all that,
and I didn't have a girlfriend, so...
So I thought, like,
maybe that was the reason why, cos of...my skin.
Did they make racist comments?
Yeah...
Yeah. They did every now and then. What would they say?
Kaffir's like a word they used to use in apartheid.
They used to call black people kaffirs.
Kaffir is an offensive racist term, like the N word.
I think I just wanted to, like, fit in, in that group.
I feel for Jeff,
and the pressure he feels to look lighter.
When I was younger, I too experienced racism,
and felt the pressure to use skin bleaching products.
But some people are taking
a stand against the light-skinned look,
and the values behind it.
Hi. Hiya!
Mathahle Stofile describes herself as a beauty activist.
She's styling a shoot for a new magazine
that promotes a very different look.
This is...our studio. We're shooting.
We're doing Zulu traditional hairstyles...
..With our beautiful model, there.
We are trying to, kind of, normalise this sort of beauty.
That you can be that dark skinned
and still be in the context of a beauty shoot.
It's just normal and beautiful,
and many black women in South Africa look like her.
Mathahle thinks the skin bleaching trend
is a sign that the races still aren't equal here.
We have women who have been told for generations
that they are not good enough,
that their skin colour is not attractive,
that their hair texture is not attractive.
That it needs to be fixed.
And the question is how crazy is it that we live in a world
where your life can be easier just based on how you look?
Just based on the colour of your skin?
It is definitely that legacy of apartheid,
that white is better, white is more beautiful.
White people are still in power,
because white people still own South Africa.
They hold the economic power.
And having a black government, great,
but if they're not changing
those rules and empowering black people,
we're always then going to be knocking on white man's door,
looking for acceptance, just so we can progress.
I'm concerned Jeff's skin
bleaching could be putting him in danger.
I call Professor Lester Davids across the country in Cape Town,
who's conducted tests on Lemonvate,
the cream Jeff uses.
Wow! It turns out that the product Jeff is using is in fact
really dangerous.
He's putting mercury into his body.
Mercury can harm the brain, heart, lungs and immune system.
With continued use, it could even lead to organ failure.
Jeff goes through a bottle of Lemonvate a month.
I HAVE to tell him.
You know, the cream you're using...
..Is illegal to be sold as a cosmetic?
Yeah.
Do you know it has very dangerous ingredients that can harm you?
It has mercury.
Mercury...
You're still willing to use this cream?
I think that's a good point.
The manufacturers of Lemonvate told us
it does not contain any banned ingredients,
that they do not distribute it in Africa,
and what's available there are counterfeit copies.
We've been sent a lab analysis of the skin cream
that Mshoza's intending to endorse.
It contains hydroquinone,
the banned substance we keep hearing about
which lowers the melanin in the skin
and increases the risk of skin cancer.
It's been very difficult to get a hold of Mshoza.
She finally answered her phone this morning,
and now we're driving about three hours away from Jo'berg
to go and meet with her...
and to discuss the results that we got from the lab.
Ah, shucks!
Oh, jeez!
After bleaching her skin for so long,
Mshoza finds direct sunlight painful.
I'm burning.
So I wanted to talk to you a bit
about the product you were promoting.
Do you know what ingredients were in that cream?
She laughs
Yeah... Well, she did tell me.
What's in it? I don't know.
We went to a lab,
and we tested the cream that you were promoting.
And we found some harmful ingredients in it.
Like? Hydroquinone.
We're talking about the product you're endorsing.
That's not my product. I can't really comment.
But you were endorsing it. And I stopped for certain reasons.
Hydroquinone is illegal in South Africa.
It's banned to be sold as a cosmetic.
There should be no hydroquinone in any product,
cos it's dangerous, and damaging to your health.
Yeah. I... Apparently, that is true.
You said, when we met with you that one time,
that you are all for women,
you know, young girls using
products that are not harmful to their skin.
I'm not to be blamed for
anything that is to do with skin lightening.
People do a lot of things.
So I don't know...
If it has hydroquinone, like you said...
..I can't be blamed for it.
A business transaction?
We contacted Pearl, the manufacturer of this cream
with the lab results, and she told us
she no longer intends to put it on the market.
After we left South Africa,
Mshoza launched her own range of creams.
She posted on social media,
saying, "The new cream is making me look like a white woman."
Her cream is on sale now.
Subtitles by Ericsson
The siren,the siren!
Dangerous chemicals
There's chemicals in that one
I first saw it in an advert,then,yeah I bought it
l startecl getting lighter and I iust continued using it
The lighter the better,I think
I'm smooth when it comes to the ladies
Well tonight I've got 4 numbers so far
We're still going to do the full body scrub
but were going to start with the facial now
People saying when you're dark-skinned you can't find a job
To me,that's not being sensitive because I've been through that
I've experienced that
l am always on TV,I'm on newspapers
The're bound to read ancl want to be like someone who's on TV
That's part of life
It works better on screen it works better with makeup
and were selling an idealistic world out there
In TV we have to sell
a fake world
That's your job
This is the most effective of them all
It can take you 3-4 shades lighter
This can take you 3 shades
lighter and this can take you 1-2 shades lighter
Yeah it depends on how you want to look,what your goal is
How Does it feel when you put it on?
It stings a little bit,just a little when you put it on
But then that basically
tells you that its penetrating and it works
It's a hand cream. Lt's used for hands and knees,elbows
You can't use the same thing on your face because
there's too much hyclroquinone in it I think
I don't know
Its deeper
You know,there clre producers involved Iike myself
There's record companies involved
and then of course the fans
and you have to look in way to fit in
So an African woman with a lighter skin
may be viewed generally as more beautiful
I can't really see the
reason because they're beautiful either way
Stand up please
Approximately how many creams have you used on your skin
About 15 creams and it got worse instead of better
Yes l mean look at her There's nothing we can do for her now
lts all damaged
So Lemonvate is one of those creams that contains mercury
It also contains trace amounts of corticosteroids
which also have a negative effect on the skin
I had no idea I had no clue about that
I don't think I will stop using it
Not at the moment, I don't think I would stop using it
It's really helping
If I knew the side effects and everything
I think I would have chosen an alternative solution
I'll have to think about it
Ah no, it's hot. Flip
Look it was a business transation