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 individuals skin 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

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