This article by Buzzfeed looks at highlighting how some of our well known skin care companies also sell skin lightening products.
"Over the weekend, Dove apologised and pulled an
ad it had posted on its US Facebook page for
one of its body lotions. In the ad, a black
woman pulls off her brown T-shirt, revealing
a white woman in a cream shirt. (In the full
GIF, the white woman pulls her shirt off
to reveal a woman with a more olive complexion,
but there’s still something queasy about
the campaign and its tagline, “100% Gentle
cleansers.”) “We missed the mark in
thoughtfully representing women of colour
and we regret the offence that it has caused,
” representatives for Dove said on Facebook
after the company pulled the ad."
This article tackles the use of bleaching products and the ways its shown through advertisements
It also highlighted the ways in which celebrities use skin bleaching products, highlighting how the use of skin bleaching is inspiring to the public through the use of celebrities. 
What great about this source of research is the overall depth it goes into looking a the attitudes of skin bleaching around the world, from western regions to those in Asia, such as India, Philipinnes etc.
Colonial standards of beauty for women
have existed for a lot longer than products
like Fair & Lovely have been available at
drugstores. “These kinds of products have
been around for a very long time, but mostly
on an informal level,” says Margaret Hunter,
a professor of sociology at Mills College.
As the middle class has grown in countries like
Brazil, India, and China, so has the cosmetics
industry’s interest in reaching out to them.
“It became in the interest of cosmetics
companies to start marketing these products,”
says Hunter. Thanks to colonialism, fairer
skin still reads as a symbol of class and
wealth. (Religion can play a part in this, too:
Deities in Hinduism are often shown with light,
glowy skin. Ravana, a symbol of evil, is often
depicted with darker skin, hair, and eyes.)
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