Fair and Unlovely!I’m not in the best of moods today and I have this irresistible urge to lash out at something. I think I will just go ahead and slam this commercial that runs constantly on Arabic satellite channels. It is a well-crafted ad for a lotion that makes women "fair" and "lovely."

I personally think this ad should be banned due to its racist nature. Arab Women activists — if they really care — should follow in the footsteps of their counterparts in India and get this advertisement banned forever.

For those who have not seen the ad, here is the gist of it: A women who is ‘not that white’ decides to become "fair and lovely" by applying this lotion to her face. After she becomes "lovely" she gets a job as an interviewer on an Arabic satellite channel. The ad concludes with the woman’s mom shedding tears of joy as she watches her daughter on TV.

The theme song of this outrageous piece of advertisement sings "achieve your dream on your own." I’m assuming the dream in this case is to become white enough to get a job as a TV presenter at one of the major Arabic networks. If this is not racist I don’t know what is. I guess it goes back to the mentality found among many in the region: "fair" is beautiful.

In this part of the globe, fair women are always the best candidates for marriage and fair babies are always cuter than their darker kin. In a nutshell, if you are dark, you are cursed. I know this sounds outrageous but sadly enough this attitude is widespread. Let’s ban this ad!