TAMPA BAY, FL – Members of the local Black Lives Matter chapter (BLM) are calling for a boycott of local businesses that sell merchandise designed for white people, such as sunscreen lotions and related products. According to the organization, the sunscreen industry has a history of glamorizing white culture through advertisements that show only light-skinned people, while completely excluding the people of color.

“Sunscreen commercials always portray wealthy white people lazying about on clean beaches or expensive motorboats that minorities just can’t afford,” says a statement released by Tampa Bay BLM. “When was the last time Big Sunscreen used non-white models in their advertisements? Why aren’t they ever showing an upper-class black family enjoying the good life on a sunny beach? The sunscreen industry has always been catering to white privilege; as such, it remains one of the last remaining vestiges of racism in our nation’s economy.”

Throughout the day shoppers who tried to enter the sunscreen aisle in different stores throughout the Tampa Bay area were met with angry protesters that blocked them from purchasing sunscreen. They even said anyone who purchased anything from the businesses they were in were guilty of supporting racism and oppression against African minorities.

Since the group has stirred controversy locally, the sentiment is beginning to spread to other cities as more and more BLM activists call for a nation wide boycott of skin care products that peddle subliminal racism through exclusively portraying a false white culture. According to the BLM these crimes are magnified by the fact that the same advertising method for these products is used throughout the world.

This article is republished with permission from our friend Oleg Atbashian at The People’s Cube.