OH it's true, it's true...

In Asian countries, pale skin = rich & beautiful because the Asian sun is strong, and having a dark skin means you've been out in the fields all day working.

Having a pale skin means you're from a rich family and you've got other people doing the works for you while you stay home and remain having a pale skin.

All cultural.

Societal pressured racism is funny in all languages.

What happens if you mix it with Coppertone? You 'splode.

Isn't it ironic that "white" people spend billions of dollars a year getting a suntan while the "non-white" people strive to lighten their skin colour?

"And so it was that later
as the miller told his tale
that her face, at first just ghostly,
turned a whiter shade of pale"
A Whiter Shade of Pale: Lyrics by: Keith Stuart Brian Reid: Sung by: Procol Harum
Here's Procol Harum singing A Whiter Shade of Pale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbWULu5_nXI

Cosmetic medicine using gene therapy for this kind of thing isn't too far away.

Or would we rather people with light skin continue to get skin cancer and people with dark skin continue to use toxic lightening treatments?

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

Here's the male version: http://www.videosift.com/video/Fair-Lovely-Menz-Activ-Ad-skin-whitener-for-men

thanks legacy, I didn't think about that

Although it's not only true of Asian countries - most societies have considered pale skin as a mark of affluence at some point. Ancient Rome and most of Europe during the Renaissance used powdered skin to disassociate the aristocracy from agrarian classes.