Why haven’t fairness cream adverts been banned? If you think about it, they’re sexist, racist and shallow. The basic idea of a cream to make your skin fairer and thus beautiful signifies that dark skinned people are not beautiful.The advertisements generally show dark skinned women who are either unable to procure employment or are unable to get married. And it is implied that this is because of their skin tone. The model begins using [insert product name] fairness cream and voila! Her skin turns fair and she is flooded with job opportunities and marriage proposals. So basically, women do not get employed on the basis of their qualification but on the basis of their colour? And the marriage advertisments piss me off even more because I’ve seen people like that in real life. And each time my only instinct was to plant a hatchet wound on their faces. Skin tone, is that all there is to a person?
These advertisments imply that the degree of your success, if any, in various spheres of life depends upon the colour of your skin and not upon your capability.
Is it just me or is that really fucked up?
The first time I saw the Fair & Handsome advertisment it amused me. I think this was about 5-6 years ago. Even back then I realised it was pretty dumb.
Why do men need a different fairness cream in the first place? Will they grow a pair of mammary glands overnight or something if they use a fairness cream meant for women? The advertisment shows/showed a man applying a fairness cream in hiding then his friend/acquaitance/manlover or whatever comes along and berates him for using a fairness cream meant for women and then gives him one meant for men instead. Even thinking of the advertisement makes me want to puke. This is the kind of dumb insecurity which ensures that racism remains prevalent in the world. Any person who uses fairness cream should be ashamed of himself/herself irrespective of the brand and it’s target demographic. It is a way of acknowledging that dark skin is a blemish, that it is something ugly and undesirable. And I refuse to accept that.
What’s even worse is that tons of celebrities endorse these products. The same people who go on and on about being good human beings and participate in highly publicised charity events. What kind of two-faced, greedy, dipshit lumps are these people?
I wonder why I’ve never heard anyone say anything about this. Maybe it’s too insignificant a matter for people to bother with. I don’t think that is the case though, considering how this bullshit is all over the televison all the time and the huge amounts of people who actually buy this stuff.
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8 responses so far ↓
sulz // April 2, 2008 at 4:04 pm |
and what about make-up and slimming adverts? a lot of ads play on our insecurities to push the products as the solution to our problems. i’ve always been interested in the advertising industry, and would consider being a copywriter. i don’t think i could be one, though, as the job goes against my personal values. i could think of a good copy for a chocolate bar, but i don’t think i could do that for a slimming pill.
» I’ve often wondered…. // April 2, 2008 at 4:13 pm |
[...] Turbo Tuning, Everything about going faster wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt Why haven’t fairness cream adverts been banned? If you think about it, they’re sexist, racist and shallow. The basic idea of a cream to make your skin fairer and thus beautiful signifies that dark skinned people are not beautiful.The advertisements generally show dark skinned women who are either unable to procure employment or are unable to get married. And it is implied that this is because of their skin tone. The model begins using [insert product name] fairness cream and voila! Her skin tu [...]
Bharat Iyer // April 2, 2008 at 4:29 pm |
I agree. Make-up products play on people’s insecurities too. So do slimming pills. I haven’t seen many slimming pill adverts though.
But there is something about fairness cream adverts that really ticks me off, more so than most other cosmetic products. They’re so blatantly racist.
Nik // April 2, 2008 at 5:25 pm |
I feel exactly the same way… every time one of those adverts shows, I either loose my temper or simply crack up at its idiocy.
[The answer to your question, why these adds haven't been banned: because they don't just blatantly say dark skin makes you inferior, they definitely imply it but that isn't enough for the law. Ridiculous.]
The concept and perception that fair is good is so deeply ingrained into our Indian minds it’s infuriating. I have a cousin sister who is “looking for a husband” (that, too, pisses me off.. it’s as if the female child is a fucking burden!!) and the primary point of discussion and worry in their house is her fairness or lack of it. I’m more worried about the fact that the girl is 20 something, passed out of college, but hasn’t a single done a days work in all her life. She sits around all day like an effing China Doll awaiting her night in shining armour. *regurgitates*
ish // April 2, 2008 at 5:48 pm |
It’s the grand old Indian obsession with fair skin you see, maybe it started with them Britishers coming to India and making them feel ashamed of themselves and ever since then, India has had this skin color obsession. Haven’t you seen those bloody matrimonial ad’s in which guys are always wanting fair girls. So yeah, it’s not just you, it is actually fucked up.
Btw, not trying to justify the fairness creams but I guess they launched a men fairness cream because the skin of a male and female is different. So obviously you can use a female one as well but that might not benefit as much as a male one does.
Amit // April 3, 2008 at 1:12 pm |
I don’t know what to say on this topic as I am using fairness creams from the past 10 years. Initially as a kid I had a lot of pimples on my face and thus I started using Vicco Turmeric, nahi cosmetic.
After that I got so used to these creams that I can’t go out without applying it. Its true that they do make you fair if you use them over a long period of time but also they do keep your skin healthy too. Atleast my pimples are gone. 
And, yes the advertisements are downright insulting to all the people who are not fair. They could emphasise more on the contents of the cream and the effects it might have on the skin(other than fairness) and it might look a little acceptable then.
Bharat Iyer // April 4, 2008 at 12:00 pm |
Nik: It seems blatant enough to me. The average person is getting dumber and dumber with time it seems. *shrugs*
Indians have a tendency to marry off daughters as soon as they manage to get a degree. It’s almost as if educating girls is like an obligation, something you do just so that you don’t look like a regressive idiot. What’s the point of education if it’s never going to be put to use?
Ish: From what I know, this obsession for fair skin has been prevalent since long before the British came. I used to read matrimonial ads just to see how dumb people over twice my age could be. It’s amazing how highly educated, supposedly modern, young people can be so narrow-minded and medieval in their outlook. One more point that proves how wrong our system really is. It does not encourage you to think. And it’s obvious that this ‘modernisation’ that people keep talking about is only a commercial one. People buy expensive branded shit now but their outlook is as regressive as ever.
Maybe I’m being pessimistic, maybe there is progress. Just that I don’t see any.
Amit: Skin blemishes are an entirely different matter. And it’s the advertisments more than the actual products themselves which bug me. I’ll admit that they may have benefits other than making your skin fair but the way they advertise it really gets to me.
Nik // April 6, 2008 at 11:19 pm |
Why ask me? I’m as perplexed as you are.