Fair and Square

Fairness is associated with beauty in most cultures. Most mythologies symbolise fairness with purity and dark-skin as evil or impure. William Shakespeare referred to his heroines as fair maidens,while all of Renaissance art abounds with curvy whitewashed women with peachy cheeks. Sure there are enough instances of beautiful women in real life,art and popular culture that have been dark-skinned or olive-toned,but they are too few and far-between.

Fairness creams in India get a very bad rap that I often feel is undeserved. Homemade besan and malai packs are recipes we’ve proudly inherited from our grandmothers. So why is fairness in a tube not okay? Fairness creams are essentially moisturisers with large amounts of bleach in it. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t apply an international brand of facial cosmetic bleach ever so often.

Fairness creams are the number one market movers for FMCG companies estimated at over Rs 800 crore and increasing by 15 per cent each year. A market survey further revealed that 75 per cent of users were male,ergo a recent spate of men’s ‘whitening lotions’.

It’s surprising then that top actors would refuse to endorse fairness creams despite the mighty moolah they offer. Aishwarya Rai — renowned for green-eyed international look — has famously said she would never promote one. Shah Rukh Khan and his megawatt appeal were an ideal choice for Fair & Handsome,India’s first fairness cream for men in 2007 (even though it earned him much ire from media analysts). John Abraham,an advertising post-graduate himself,endorsed one from Garnier. And kudos to Shahid Kapoor,for not shying away from biggie Vaseline’s Men’s Whitening Lotion.

There is the question of health of course,large quantities of bleach are not good for you. But neither is too much shampoo or even soap. Next: do fairness creams really work? How else do you explain their multiplying numbers?

More than the product in itself,it’s the messenger that needs to be shot. Advertisements of fairness creams play on people’s insecurities and often send out the wrong message. If a young woman uses the cream,she will get a better job,a better groom and a better life. The same with men’s creams. Khan’s ad was shown as advising a dejected man to use the skin-whitening cream to get the girl he wanted. Another ad shows a young woman being rejected of an airhostess’ interview as she is dark-skinned only to bag the job after using the cream. These campaigns not only exploit a negative stereotype but also reinforce it,pushing people to accept an unhealthy self-image.

Of course,marketing gurus will defend their lack of imagination and ethics saying that it works so why not? But it isn’t the fairness creams but the ads that promote them that offend the sensibilities. And unless our attitudes are less judgmental about people who want to look good (according to what they feel is good-looking),we are as much to blame.

namratanow@gmail.com