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In India, Fairness Is a Growth Industry
Shopkeeper Gurdip Singh says skin-lightening creams are big sellers, though at about $1, they're half a day's wages for some. Still, "everybody wants to look good," he says.
(By Emily Wax -- The Washington Post)
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"It's something we have internalized, and it's propagated by everyone since we still have this colonial hang-up that white is better, white is wealth, white is someone rich enough to never toil in the sun," said Nikki Duggal, a New Delhi-based graphic artist who created T-shirts that say "Dark and Lovely" and "Fair and Ugly" -- which in many ways mirror the "Black Is Beautiful" T-shirts that became a symbol of empowerment in the United States. "It's so prevalent in India that fair equates to more success in life. There is a very sad message that if you are dark, you are doomed."
Cosmetic companies say there is nothing nefarious about marketing the idea of lighter skin. They often defend the standard of beauty in India by pointing to the West's fixation on wrinkles or weight.
Other advertising analysts say the growth in male skin creams simply shows that Indians in smaller towns and cities have increasing purchasing power and the same materialistic dreams as residents of New Delhi or Mumbai.
"The new India story is completely about aspirations in the smaller cities. It's no longer an ad for motorbikes that shows a woman getting her sari crushed on a bus. Now it's an ad about owning a car -- and not just any car, a big car," said Jagdip Bakshi, the head of the Contract Advertising agency. "Skin-lightening creams are just one aspirational product among a long list that those in the smaller cities are now spending their money on. The market is unstoppable."
Ads that target the lower middle class and play to desires for upward mobility can be seen round-the-clock on Indian TV these days. In one ad, for the satellite provider Dish Network, Bollywood megastar Shahrukh Khan laments that Indians are too "content" with what they have already.
"We are content even if there's no water, no electricity. Even if our cable is showing us only a few channels," he says.
"Pleeeez, don't be santusht," he continues, using the Hindi word for "content." "Wish some more, Dish some more."
Khan, known as the King of Bollywood, recently appeared in another ad. It was for Fair and Handsome cream.
