Remember my post All is fair in the fairness game ? Patricia had left a comment on it remarking on how the ‘ethnic look’ – Latina, Philippina, African American was popular in the United States. We have a friend who was born in India and grew up in the States wishing she had fairer skin. Now, however, she’s quite happy with her ethnic look…
Apparently not. The Angry Anthropologist in a post titled A Question of Skin Color points out to this article in LA Times Beauty and the Bleach. (The fulll article is not available free – I have reproduced some of it here from The Angry Anthropologist’s post)
But their popularity has sparked a debate in the Asian American community about the politics of whitening. Qui and others say the quest for white skin is an Asian tradition. But others – younger, American-born Asians – question whether the obsession with an ivory complexion has more to do with blending into white American culture, or even a subtle prejudice against those with darker skin.
The market research firm says cosmetics companies have taken note of the sensitivity, saying their Asian skin products in America are intended not for “whitening” but for “brightening.”
Whitening. Brightening. Whatever. The goal remains the same. Fair skin. And does it realy matter whether Asians just want fairer skin. Or want to look as fair as their Caucasian friends. (Somehow, I do not think this is true – I think Asians – certainly Indians – want fairer skin. With or without Americans to compare themselves with.)
Whitening products now rack up $10 million in sales a year, according to the market research firm Euromonitor. In India, the fairness creams market is estimated at Rs.800 crores. And this is just the fairness cream. And then there are the others – brightening, tightening, glowing, after-bath, elbow care…. Enough already.
Don’t forget s.e. Asia where already-fair women spend big bucks to be ‘fairer’. My sister-in-law is brand manager for P & G’s SK II which retails at Estee Lauder style counters in upscale dept stores… the brand is doing extremely well!
Rashmi, actually I was very surprised to know about this fairness obsession in other Asian (apart form the India subcontinent) countries – esp SE Asia – I remember seeing lots of beauty products in Thailand but most of them are marketed as skin-care – or “brightening” (as opposed to whitening – as the article says) products – purpoting to cater to a higher order need (overall skin care = self-esteem), whereas in reality promising and delivering only basic fairness. did your read my earlier post that I have linked to – “all is fair in the fairness game”?
but I think this is a new trend in the US… any ideas on this?
Hi Charu
Skin tone not withstanding, arent we as a society generally “looks based” ? So at some esoteric level, that is the bigger truth to deal with rather than just the color of ones skin. A few weeks ago Vikrum had an interesting article on this which turned into one of those gargantuan commenting frenzies post. Check it out, if you havent already read it
http://vsequeira.blogspot.com/2005/07/fair-lovely.html.
Sourin
I personally never give two hoots to fairness products. And I agree with you, ‘enough already.’
Sourin, I did read Vikrum’s post – and the discussion around it!
as for “looks-based”, I wonder, is there a society which isn’t? sure some are more overt about it than others… but in India (and all of SE Asia, as I know now), looks almost equals fair complexion…
Mridula, yes. but the market is bursting with more and more of them!
Charu
I see that my poor comment finally made it. Whew…
Sourin
Yes it has, and in future, will be more careful 🙂
Hi Charu,
I plead guilty to the charge of contributing to the fairness cream market. Launched and worked on ‘Fairever’which proved to be quite a competitor to Fair & Lovely which was very well entrenched in the market.
My argument is simply this. Did fairness as an obsession not exist even before the fairness creams did? Look at matrimonial ads from the ’50s and you’re still likely to find grooms requiring ‘fair, homely girl’
The other is that human insecurities are a very potent market. People hate losing hair and so there is an entire product category that works on hair growth and replacement. Why don’t people have the same outrage when they see those ads? Or impotence. Viagra is peddled and no one seems to have a problem.
Or ‘whitening toothpaste’ for people with ‘yellow’ teeth. No problems there.
So why does the flag go up only on the ‘exploitation’ of fairness. If you ask me, every product advertised can be tarred with the brush of ‘insensitivity’. As to advertising contributing to the consumerisation of the world, well, that’s another issue altogether.
By applying cosmetics one can get beautiful but that’s only superficial…..true beauty comes from within……..
Venu, I have heard this argument many times before. that a feeling exists in society is no reason for marketers to exploit it – they are only increasing the pressure on girls / women when society has already placed that pressure on them… in India, the female child is not welcome in many parts – is it then acceptable for marketers / advertisers to promote their products for say, sex selection of babies. or termination of unwanted – read, carrrying a female – pregnancies. sure this is a rather extreme example that I am talking about here. but the point is that I do not believe that it is “okay” to exploit an exisiting obsession…
sure, hair loss creams and oils and potency pills and potions are all exploiting consumer desires and weaknesses. reason I think people do not have the same outrage is that these are individual choices – society does not place a premium on people with healthy glowing hair or extremely virile men 🙂 and treat those with a ‘deficiency’ in these areas differently – as is the case with dark-skinned women
Avik, ya whatever 🙂
The latest product to jump on the fairness bandwagon is emami, with its fairness cream for MEN! To make men “fair and handsome”. Whatever happened to TDH (Tall, Dark and Handsome)?
There is no use blaming the cosmetics companies for this. They are definitely not angels or saints, and they do feed the frenzy by showing ads of young girls finding success only when they turn their complexion to fair, but they are at the tail end of the equation, the bottom feeders who come and scrape up the financial windfalls resulting from society’s obsession with one thing or the other (fairness, virility, full head of hair, whatever). And given that they are in the game only to make money, that is what they will do. It does not make it right, I agree with you Charu, but that is what they will do until society tells them that there is no money to be made.
The people to blame are ourselves (or those among us that hanker for fairness). Why do we perceive the way we are as being lesser than what we want to be? People spend millions of dollars in the US on tanning salons and tanning creams. It’s the same obsession there only toward the opposite end of the color spectrum. At the bottom of all this is a picture we have of ourselves, and unfortunately, that picture does not match whoever or whatever we are. So the need to do something to alter it and match that image comes in. There is the need here to attach a color adjective whenever you are describing a person. My family used to call me a “dark beauty” when I was young, indulgenty of course, but the judgement was there, nonetheless. In the US, the word “pasty” (definitely, pejorative) is used to describe anyone not having the healthy glow of a tan. Go figure.
If we want this whole fairness obsession to go away, the place to start is with the people. As long as we demand fairness (I mean in terms of complexion) and seek it, the advertising media and cosmetics companies are only too happy to step in. Let’s stop creating a market where mercenaries feed on our insecurities.
Sujatha, yes, I know a about the fairness cream for men… but men have always contributed to 25% of the fairness creams market.
I agree, the ideal way to do it is to create a no-demand situation but that just doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon…
Dont know if any of you have seen the latest ad for a fairness cream called Fairever. It is truly disgusting. A young girl gets her photograph taken with the man of her dreams only to have him tear it up….The mandatory application of fairness cream over, the couple is reunited, with the man asking and ofcourse getting a “second chance”
Couple of things inferred – fairness creams make you attractive, desirable etc etc which is the usual message, plus reinforces the age old stereotype which i thought somehow was going away – the rule that its only the man who gets to choose his girl, at his whims and fancies, and never the other way round. Sickening, isnt it?
Apu, I haven’t seen this particular ad, but have seen enough other offensive ones like this. Why doesn’t one single ad show the girl tearing up the photograph of her dream man – or non dream man who is just plain ugly but wants to marry the fair and beautiful princess anyways? 🙂
The ads of fairness products on TSN takes the cake! Outrageously degrading &
throroughly tacky.. it nonetheless echoes the sentiments of the masses.
What i find also surprising is the South Indian obsession over fair skin… although
majority of them have a darker skin tone! (Does that mean that most of them perceive
themselves to be bad looking?) Never mind the kickass bone structure.. if
you have dark skin.. you’re considered ugly! Movies & ads in South India almost never
have dark models. How do people buy these fairness products when they
a. cannot identify with the models used in the ad.
b. know that they will not become “fair” & that the only way to go fair would be if
their skin gets diseased ( read leucoderma )
Matimonial ads have undergone a lot of change from the 50’s.. but not
the “fair bride syndrome” no sir!
That alas is a chronic ailment & the prognosis bleak!
Marie :). actually the fair skin obsession is not limited to South India – it is just as bad or even worse in the North. And yes, dark skinned girls and women thnkof themselves as bad looking – they are made to feel that way and actually start believing it – I have met such women…
People buy fairness creams sold by fair models for much the same reason that we go watch movies where pretty girls act – incidentally where the hero is totally ugly and dark in many cases, esp in Southie movies…
it is not about identification but about aspiration…
by the way, what are these ads on TSN? have not seen any. tele shopping?
I don’t mean to get into the middle of this arguement….but do these fair creams actually work? at the most, they may make a person a shade or two lighter but for those who have deep brown/dark brown skin I highly doubt these creams will work.
To be honest with you all, I see no harm in using these creams. What I do see harm in is that society does not consider a girl who has a dark complexion beautiful. Look at actresses like Nandita Das. She is a very attractive woman, but her complexion is on the darker side.
The problem is not so much that these creams exist. The problem is that people think that being fair is pretty and dark ugly. People need to wake up because fair skinned women exist who are ugly!! Those who do have darker skin should be proud of what they were born with!
At the end of this all, it is the person’s personality and upbringing matter..not the fact that her skin is fair or not.
Hi guys,
Your post really interested me especially as I am researching the obsession with fair skin for my Year 12 major work. If any of you would like to leave a comment, either on ideas or suggestions for this issue, personal experience, or if you wanted to mention some of the fairness advertisements in India (which would be really useful as I live in Australia so I don’t get to see many firsthand, it would be great if you could leave a comment on my website http://elizapip.blogspot.com/
It would be really, really appreciated as I could use my opinions as direct primary research for my project.
Thanks!
Thanks a lot
hi, i have read with great interest the conversation above, as a fairly dark skin uk punjabi girl i was brought up being bullied for having a darker (olive) complextion. even by mt own mother. i have a partner who is fair skinned and children who are fair skinned. people do look and think how are these chioldren yours!. i have concidered skin bleaching but to what cost? give in to the steriotypical society who assume being fair is the b all and end all! in have had to go throught life self conciously as to the bulling and do feel insecure about my skin colour but i am rising above it and comming to terms with it, and the fact that my own mother would make nasty comments on the colour of my slin. surely a parent providing a secure and positive upbringing is more important! my family always chose ugly guys for marraige proposals as they thought that was all i was worth, so in the end i moved out, found my own handsome chap and have three lovely childre. i aint done to bad for a dark skinned girl!