Indian
Women Criticize 'Fair and Lovely' Ideal
By Nicole Leistikow
Two attractive young women
are sitting in a bedroom having an intimate conversation. The lighter-skinned
woman has a boyfriend and, consequently, is happy. The darker-skinned
woman, lacking a boyfriend, is not. Her friend's advice? Use a bar of
soap to wash away the dark skin that's keeping men from flocking.
Hindustan Lever Limited,
one of India's largest manufacturing and
marketing conglomerates, discontinued two of its television
advertisements for Fair and Lovely Fairness Cold Cream this month,
after a year-long campaign led by the All India Democratic Women's
Association. Increasing public criticism may be initiating a change
in cultural attitudes towards skin whitening in India, a country
where the fairness industry accounts for 60 percent of skincare
sales, bringing in $140 million a year. The company is the Indian
subsidiary of Unilever PLC, based in London.
In a memo to India's National
Human Rights Commission, Brinda Karat, general secretary of the women's
association, calls one of the ads "discriminatory on the basis
of the color of skin," and "an affront
to a woman's dignity," because it shows fairer women having greater
job success based on their sexuality.
Fair and Lovely, one of Hindustan
Lever's "power brands," is marketed in over 38 countries.
Its frequently-aired ads typically show a depressed woman with few prospects
gaining a brighter future by
attaining a boyfriend or job after becoming markedly fairer
(emphasized by several silhouettes of her face lined up dark to
light). On its Web site the company calls its product, "the miracle
worker," which is "proven to deliver one to three shades of
change."
The ad targeted by the women's
association shows a woman, whose
father had lamented not having a son to support the family, landing
a
well-paying job as an airline attendant after using the product.
Hindustan Lever failed to
respond to All India Democratic Women's
Association's complaints, first sent in March and April 2002. The
women's association then appealed to the Human Rights Commission, which
passed its complaints on to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The government recently issued notices of the complaints to the company.
Karat credits this intervention, rather than any "sudden awakening
to the feelings that women have when they see those ads," with
triggering the company's about-face. "We're not for heavy-duty
censorship," she said, but "when the companies don't respond
we have no alternative."
Fairness as an Asset
If there is evidence that
public opinion has changed, it is not to be
found in the Indian matrimonial ads, with their "grooms" and
"brides
wanted" sections that families use to arrange suitable alliances.
These ads, hundreds of which appear in India's daily newspapers,
reflect the country's remarkable diversity in their attempts to
solicit individuals with the appropriate religion, caste, regional
ancestry, professional and educational qualifications, and
frequently, skin color.
Even in the growing numbers
of ads that announce "caste no bar," the
adjective "fair" still regularly precedes professional qualifications.
A typical example shows that having a medical or graduate business degree
is only part of the package: "Wanted really
b'ful fair medico for h'some smart Doctor."
"Fair skin is considered
an asset in India," said Rachna Gupta, a
38-year-old part-time interior designer. That's why, once a month,
she goes to a busy south Delhi salon to have Jolen Creme Bleach
("lightens excess dark hair" the box says) slathered over
her face as
a fairness treatment. "It's not good for the skin," Gupta
said, "but
I still get it done because I am on the darker side and it makes me
feel nice. Aesthetically, it looks nice."
However, the number of Indians
who share Gupta's opinion that lighter skin is more beautiful may be
shrinking. Sumit Isralni, a 22-year-old hair designer in his father's
salon, thinks things have changed in the last two years, at least in
India's most cosmopolitan cities, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Women
now "prefer their own complexion, their natural way," he said.
Isralni says he prefers a
more "Indian beauty" himself. "I won't find
my wife to be fair, I won't judge her on that," he said.
Sunita Gupta, a beautician
in the salon where Rachna Gupta gets her
treatments, is more critical. "It's just foolishness!" she
exclaimed.
The premise of the ads that women could not become airline attendants
if they are dark-skinned was wrong, she said. "Nowadays people
like black beauty."
She goes on to cite dusky
Indian female film actors Kajol Devgan and
Rani Mukherjee as examples of her conviction, "If you are dark,
then
dark is the best."
Health Concerns Over Lightening
Grow
The awareness that whitening
products can damage the skin is growing. To respond to health concerns,
"Fair and Lovely" has come out with an "ayurvedic"
formula, a term referring to a well-known system of Indian herbal medicine.
And at an upscale salon in Delhi, at a chain also owned by Hindustan
Lever, Puja Sharma stresses to potential customers that her lightening
facials are all-natural, using milk and fresh fruits like tomato and
papaya. However, at four to six times the price of Rachna Gupta's monthly
bleaching, this option finds
fewer takers.
Even Gupta, a steadfast bleacher
for over 15 years, admits the
danger. "Two years back it was quite popular," she said. "But
now I
think they're focusing on less bleaching. It could harm the skin if
it's strong."
So she checks the concentration
of ammonia and continues her routine. "You have a small tingling
kind of a feeling," she said. "It doesn't hurt too much."
Battling for Public Opinion
Betting that the fairness
craze in India will continue, American and
European companies are fighting for their market share. Popular
western brands Avon, L'Oreal, Lancome, Yves Saint-Laurent, Clinique,
Elizabeth Arden, Estee Lauder, and Revlon, offer whitening products.
In addition, cheap knockoffs like "Cure and Lovely" are making
the rounds.
Meanwhile, the Delhi-based
Center for Advocacy and Research, which monitors media and conducts
surveys on public opinion, has accused the industry in general of "unfair
trade practices" and "using a social stigma to sell their
products."
On March 11, Hindustan Lever,
shortly after pulling its ads off the
air, launched its "Fair and Lovely Foundation," vowing to
"encourage
economic empowerment of women across India" by providing resources
in education and business. Sangeeta Pendurkar, the company's skincare
marketing manager, announced that the company believed millions of women
"who, though immensely talented and capable, need a guiding hand
to help them take the leap forward." Presumably into a fairer future.
(Nicole Leistikow is a freelance
writer and news editor for
Inthefray.com, currently based in New Delhi.)
For more information:
Hindustan Lever Limited--Fair and Lovely-the miracle worker:
http://www.hll.com/HLL/knowus/personalpro_skincare_fairnlovely.html
All India Democratic Women's
Association:
http://www.aidwa.org/aidwa/
Hindustan Lever Limited--Fair
and Lovely Foundation:
http://www.hll.com/hll/archivecontent/PressRelease/PRFLFoundation.shtm