A Malaysian advert has been attacked for appearing to suggest that slimmer women with lighter skin are less likely to be beaten by their husbands, says a Daily Mail report.

In the soap opera-style video, a woman is shown being mistreated by her husband in a variety of ways.

At one point he calls her a ‘rhino’, spits out food she cooks for him and splashes her in the face with water. He then kicks her out of the house, tells her ‘I divorce you three times’ and slams the door on her as she screams desperately while calling him ‘Babe’.

But after moving in with her sister, she begins using a Slimme White product before undergoing a transformation into a skinnier and paler woman.

Her husband is then awed by her new appearance when he sees her in the street.

Chasing after her, he pleads with her to take him back.

But she responds with, Cause now I’m slim and beautiful?’, before walking away.

The advert has caused fury among rights groups in Malaysia, with the Women’s Aid Organisation saying it helps ‘enable domestic violence’.    

‘WAO is appalled by the recent Slimme White ad, which suggests that what domestic violence survivors need is a beauty product that makes them thinner and whiter,’ Tan Heang Lee, the group’s communications officer, said.

She added: ‘Such ads are incredibly damaging because it implies that women who look a certain way deserve abuse, and that their husbands have a right to abuse them.  

‘What this ad failed to recognise is that domestic violence is fundamentally about power and control. Domestic violence happens because men have more power in relationships, and then abuse their power to control their partners.’

‘Ads like this enable domestic violence. We don’t need a beauty product that promises us fair skin and a flat tummy; that in itself is a sexist beauty standard. What we need is respect and equality.

‘We need men to respect women, and to recognise that it’s never okay to abuse another person.’