Indian subcontinent’s obsession with fair skin
India and its neighboring countries are obsessed with fair skin, especially women. However, equating success to being fair is outrageous! Unilever’s (Hindustan Unilever Limited) Fair & Lovely ads blatantly tell you that to be a successful working woman, you have to be fair! Since dark skin is looked down upon in the country by many people, that is the insecurity the fairness cream brands play on.
The different ads by Fair & Lovely over the years showcase insecure women (dark apparently) aspiring to be actresses, singers, models, dancers and even air-hostesses. The models and locations change, but what does not change, is the underlying theme — you’re nothing if you’re not fair. Color bias is obviously a big problem in the country.
In the above ad, the best dancer is asked by the teacher to move to the side as she would not be the main dancer. Her friend asks her the reason and she says it’s because she is dark! Her friend suggests she use Fair & Lovely. Of course, after four weeks her skin tone has dramatically changed and she has become 10 shades lighter (what a miracle!). She is now the main dancer in the show. Sigh.
There are other brands as well such as Garnier, Emami, and Pond’s that also promote the message that being fair automatically equals success. Bollywood actresses such as Aishwarya Rai (Former Ms. World) and many others have promoted the fairness cream equating it to being successful in their respective careers. Watch the ad (English).
For the longest time, these ads were targeted at women, playing at their insecurities. However, soon enough, these ads started targeting men with the same storyline: you have to be fair to become successful. Now, men with insecurities started showing up in the ads and reached the peak of their success when they started using these fairness creams! The following ad showcases Bollywood actor, Shahid Kapoor, who mocks his younger brother by asking him if he has landed the audition for a corpse (seeing his brother’s ‘dark’ face) as he is getting ready for the same! Kapoor then goes on to suggest a fairness face-wash by Vaseline that’ll make him look fair and ready for the audition.
A lot of activists in India and even Bollywood actresses condemn the ads because of the underlying message. Here’s an ad that features Bollywood actress, Nandita Das where she is part of a campaign where she says it’s okay to not be fair.
Das has given several examples in her interviews revolving around the campaign where she was not cast for a particular role (even though she is an award-winning actress) only because of her skin tone. She said that even after bagging meaty roles, she was expected to bleach her face or apply makeup that would make her appear fair. She became fed up with the trend and decided to speak up on behalf of other actresses who face the same dilemma but choose to keep quiet about it.
Here are some Fair & Lovely ads from other neighboring countries: Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. The first ad goes one step ahead to talk about how the father wishes he had a male child! Again, this is a problem that plagues all South Asian countries. I have surprisingly even seen Arabic ads for Fair & Lovely in Dubai and the theme does not change, unfortunately.
The message is the same in all these ads: Fairness = Success
‘A vision to make dreams come true’ and ‘Empowering women since 1975’ are Fair & Lovely’s core messages to women! (LOL)
Indian women have gone to space, play international sports, are part of the Indian military, and have become successful entrepreneurs; however, equating fairness to success is shameful. I have no objection to women wanting to look fair. I only have a problem with ads that imply that a woman can only be successful if she is fair. So my only question is, should women stop working hard and just switch to Fair & Lovely to achieve greatness? These ads on propagating fairness … are only skin-deep!
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