# The light-skinned black girl with the bouncy hair in every commercial that contains a black woman... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2017, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620 "2017-12-31T07:50:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/21 "2017-12-31T19:01:05Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Light-skinned black woman with bouncy hair turns to the fourth wall and smiles. > > Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk I was wondering how you’d handle that. Nice. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/22 "2017-12-31T19:06:16Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Light-skinned black woman with bouncy hair turns to the fourth wall and smiles. > > Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk teehee ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/23 "2017-12-31T19:15:15Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I’ll be interested to hear some of our Black female posters join in but I have been led to believe that the bias is an issue _within_ the Black community as well and in this case “Black” is the better term to use over “African American” as it applies within African populations as well. European beauty standards have long been internalized by historically colonized and dominated populations. I’ve heard before about many a current Black adult woman has had issues with mothers relaxing their hair and more. It’s called colorism (and good hair, when it comes to the bouncy curls), but progress has been made. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a small child with relaxed hair. The light skinned people from commercials can be used to check a lot of boxes, because they’re racially ambiguous. Black people see her as black, some white people would assume she just has a nice tan etc. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/24 "2017-12-31T19:20:48Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > It’s called colorism (and good hair, when it comes to the bouncy curls), but progress has been made. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a small child with relaxed hair. > > The light skinned people from commercials can be used to check a lot of boxes, because they’re racially ambiguous. Black people see her as black, some white people would assume she just has a nice tan etc. Hmmmmmm… I think it’s probably more that white people see her as black, and black people are expected to take whatever we give them. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/25 "2017-12-31T19:22:16Z")
To clarify: She _is_ black, I don’t mean to imply otherwise. But it’s the largely white-controlled entertainment complex that determines what “acceptable levels” of blackness should appear on screen. Dark skinned black people (and many other black people) would strongly prefer the “overton window” so to speak, be moved towards the dark end. But the various social and market forces, not to mention the people, making up the entertainment complex, resist that move. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/26 "2017-12-31T19:23:59Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Not that the “entire history of African-Americans and their descendants in the United States” is fucked up or anything. Who’s arguing? ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/27 "2017-12-31T19:42:51Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Hmmmmmm… I think it’s probably more that white people see her as black, and black people are expected to take whatever we give them. > [@Frylock](#): > > To clarify: She _is_ black, I don’t mean to imply otherwise. But it’s the largely white-controlled entertainment complex that determines what “acceptable levels” of blackness should appear on screen. Dark skinned black people (and many other black people) would strongly prefer the “overton window” so to speak, be moved towards the dark end. But the various social and market forces, not to mention the people, making up the entertainment complex, resist that move. What I mean is that, in my experience, it’s not uncommon for white people not to realize a light skinned black person is black. The casting department would know, but I was talking about the audience. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/28 "2017-12-31T19:59:58Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Who’s arguing? Probably someone who doesn’t admit that Europeans brought their slavery to the new world, and thinks of it solely as an American institution. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/29 "2017-12-31T20:04:43Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > What I mean is that, in my experience, it’s not uncommon for white people not to realize a light skinned black person is black. The casting department would know, but I was talking about the audience. Given that we’re talking about people with big bouncy 'fros, I think the assumption is the audience will see thm as black. I know there are of course people who are black who end up not being recognized as such on sight by many–Rashida Jones comes to mind. But I think this is a thread about people generally recognized on sight as black. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/30 "2017-12-31T20:05:58Z")
[These are images](https://www.google.com/search?q=light+skinned+women+with+afros+in+commercials&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS697US697&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjm4f6MhrXYAhUk24MKHTBHD3MQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=984) of the hair style and skin color range we’re talking about in this thread, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/31 "2017-12-31T20:23:58Z")
There are people in that very link who won’t register to everyone as black, even with the spirally fro. But either way, there’s a reason I only mentioned the light skin in my post. I was making a more general point. ---
**Author:** ![nate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nate/32/13085_2.png) [@nate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nate)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/32 "2017-12-31T20:40:16Z")
Here is a rather funny example. McDonald’s commercial with this trope literally inserted in the last two seconds of the ad: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtYjKcmqBg0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtYjKcmqBg0) ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/33 "2017-12-31T20:57:03Z")
Maddox (remember him? The “best page in the universe” guy?) called attention to this stock character way the hell back in the early 2000s. Look at item #2 on [this page.](http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=stock_photos) ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/34 "2017-12-31T21:15:13Z")
A season three episode of[Black-ish](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5569948/?ref_=ttep_ep17)addressed this in the “B” story. The character played by Anthony Anderson is confronted by his own tendency to cast light skinned actors in commercials. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/35 "2018-01-01T01:45:41Z")
> [@nate](#): > > I’ve noticed this so much that’s it’s starting to become annoying. Next time you sit and watch commercials, notice if there is a multiracial group of people in it, Yes, and it is annoying for every family Christmas dinner in a commercial to look like some huge UN meeting.:rolleyes: Nothing wrong with actual mutliracial families, but it’s just not the case for enough families to not make the commercials look like a pandering dumming down of Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/36 "2018-01-01T02:13:07Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Yes, and it is annoying for every family Christmas dinner in a commercial to look like some huge UN meeting.:rolleyes: > > Nothing wrong with actual mutliracial families, but it’s just not the case for enough families to not make the commercials look like a pandering dumming down of Christmas. Since only a few commercials are like that, I’m not seeing it as a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620/37 "2018-01-01T02:15:43Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > A season three episode of[Black-ish](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5569948/?ref_=ttep_ep17)addressed this in the “B” story. The character played by Anthony Anderson is confronted by his own tendency to cast light skinned actors in commercials. And School Daze is 30 years old. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-light-skinned-black-girl-with-the-bouncy-hair-in-every-commercial-that-contains-a-black-woman/805620.md?page=1)