Our fascination with white skin in general is no secret. From fairness products to shaming people with slightly dark skin is something that we have internalized.

It isn’t difficult to discern that this behavior stems from the fact that we were once colonized by the white-skinned Englishmen. And their influence never really left the region

Take this morning show, Jago Pakistan Jago, for instance. I am sure many of you switch on your television screens early in the morning to check out what these ladies have to present

In a recent episode, they had to showcase looks or makeup style which would suit “dusky people”

However, the intelligent people behind the show thought it best to choose fair models and blackface them, rather than choosing actual dusky models.

They might not have given a second thought about how problematic it is showcasing something like this on live television.

You are showing that the industry does not accommodate dusky models, despite the fact the a larger chunk of population is constituted by dusky people. At the same time, they thought it was alright to choose fair models and make them duskier, rather than actually choosing someone who is duskier. The lack of representation of duskier people on television promotes and reinforces that there is no space for them and that their skin color is a problem, to the point that they can blackface fair people but not hire them to play their own part.

This was noticed by a lot of Pakistanis and they are rightfully outraged

Jago pakistan Jago… WHAT.WERE.YOU.THINKING…………………..I really tried liking morning shows in Pakistan, honestly I did try. My mom has them on all the time. I came across the show Jago Pakistan Jago with the host Sanum Jung. When some of you shared this with me, I honest to god couldn't believe it. Like in my head I was like, there's got to be something I'm missing here, they're not THIS blatantly ignorant or stupid for that matter. They took fair skinned girls and literally painted their faces darker with a foundation to prove good makeup could also be done on darker skinned brides. My question is Sanam @jung_sanam , was it really that hard to find darker skinned models to do makeup on? This is a caricature like scenario, you've painted on a a much darker face onto fair skinned girls, look at their hands and their arms. It's like you're purposefully and intentionally making them look comical. How is this not something close to #blackface. I'm going to ask you the same question I asked a brand last week, how did you let this happen? How is this appropriate? How did you let this go live even? If you really had good intentions about darker skin tones and how makeup should be done, you and I both know well this wasn't the way to do it. Rather you have contributed to an already disgusting sentiment in our society about darker skin tones in a fair skin obsessed pakistan. I don't even want to get started on how cringy the actual SHOW SEGMENT was. So let me repeat the title, Jago Pakistan Jago. "WAKE UP" PAKISTAN. #irritated

A post shared by Saher (@thepakistanimarthastewart) on Mar 14, 2018 at 8:50pm PDT

From what I gather, this was a makeup challenge which raises the question whether making dusky women look attractive is a challenge? We fail to see beauty in anything that does not fit the standards set by our colonists. This is blackface& it is wrong. Hum TV owes an apology. pic.twitter.com/Qfvb1ODx3v

— qirat (@brownbasic) March 14, 2018

The fact that this continued to air and no one in the whole team noticed something was extremely wrong with what was going on, on the set proves a few things

These show makers have no sense of responsibility as to what is being aired on television. They are inconsiderate of the fact that a lot of people consume their content and emulate it. Had it been the opposite case, no one would have dared to indulge in something like this. Nobody deemed it inappropriate to show how racist we actually are. And the irony is that we are racist against our own skin color.

The broadcast on live television is reinforcing what we do in our daily lives. We discriminate people with duskier skin tones because the gore gave us this complex that his skin tone was better and since then we have been in this race to get fair. Be it through fairness creams, skin treatments or going to quacks for quick solutions.

Remember, you are the reason duskier people don’t have easier lives here. You are the reason they get rejected and people still have not learnt to appreciate their beauty as is. This raises a very important question, how do we now trust people on the televisions if they can casually perpetuate all that is wrong with the society?

The producers of Jago Pakistan Jago owe everyone an apology for being extremely negligent and ignorant

At the same time, it should be a cause of concern for the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), which allows such poorly thought out programs to be aired on live television but diligently criticises shows like Udari, which try to highlight the problems in our society.

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Cover image via: Hum Network Limited