Vaseline launches skin-whitening Facebook app for India

I really couldn’t top that headline. I’m not sure what’s more appalling the fact that Vaseline is doing this or the fact that they’re responding to an actual demand in the market place.

Skincare group Vaseline has introduced a skin-lightening application for Facebook in India, enabling users to make their faces whiter in their profile pictures. The download is designed to promote Vaseline’s range of skin-lightening creams for men, a huge and fast-growing market driven by fashion and a cultural preference for fairer skin.

So let me see if I got this right: Indian men want to look like Michael Jackson? Creeeeeepy.

Do they sell Barbie in India? They must. I wonder which skin color of Barbie sells more? Like I have to ask.

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Even with funny money banks refuse to take California IOUs

The name of Disney’s California Adventure park seems to have taken on ironic overtones of late. The WSJ reports:

A group of the biggest U.S. banks said they would stop accepting California’s IOUs on Friday … if California continues to issue the IOUs, creditors will be forced to hold on to them until they mature on Oct. 2, or find other banks to honor them. … The group of banks included Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., among others.

(Hat tip to the fine blog CalculatedRisk)

C’mon guys! It’s not like you’d be putting up your own cash. BofA, Citi and Wells Fargo have received $65 billion in fed funds. (JPMorgan has already paid back it’s $25B. It was either that or cut its CEO’s pay.)

You know things are bad when the banks won’t use their free money to buy something.

Here’s a fund raising idea: Maybe California should hold the mother of all Michael Jackson memorials and charge admission?