Diverse modes of representing standards of feminine beauty continue to dominate Philippine media. More specifically, creative advertisements designed, produced and distributed by business enterprises and creative agencies encourage Filipino women to achieve a recognisable beauty through the use of a range of skin lightening products. Belo, Loreal, Nivea, and Olay are some of the big brands that endorse the realisation and positive benefits of fairer skin among women and men. These products are promoted and distributed by the beauty and media industry across multiple channels, including online and offline. As creative, compelling and star-studded campaigns communicate and sell whitening products online, profit flows into the processes and systems of the media culture industry, including but not limited to health, fashion, and so forth. In a sense, the production and circulation of celebrity-driven endorsements align with our conception of brokerage, which emphasises the collection, curation and circulation of aspirational contents for certain individuals, groups and markets in diverse media channels. However, brokerage in this context contains the marketability of standard beauty within the imaginaries of individuals in the dominant creative and media industry.

The brokerage of beauty standards – skin practices – is governed by the beauty and media industry and noticeable in the Philippine context. In 2019 alone, two particular ads created a buzz in Philippine history of skin whitening products. Skin White released their “Dark or White, you are beautiful” campaign.