Seeing as how we all know I’m about as subtle as an old, rusty freight train, I’ll jump right into this: I hate the product Fair & Lovely. It’s basically marketed as a lotion that one would put on at a regular basis, which would lead to fairer skin, thus the name. Whether being fair is attractive or not is not the issue at hand, since how attractive a person looks is purely based on how they’re put together-rarely does it have anything to do with having “the right skin tone”.
In brief, most Fair & Lovely ads share the same premise: Dark Girl is Dark. Dark Girl is Unattractive but has ambition that she can’t reach due to being dark. Dark Girl is sad. Dark Girl puts Fair & Lovely on for a month. Dark Girl is now Light Girl! Light Girl is attractive. Light Girl is happy! Note the 24 second mark and beyond. She goes from “sad” to “happy” while transforming from “tan” to “fair”. The less blatant facial expression is actually the result of people protesting in India, which is where the product is most popular. It was openly ridiculous in its advertisements beforehand.
I always hated the ads that Fair & Lovely is actively splattering all over the more popular Arabic channels, because of the fact that the idea they’re promoting is openly feeding off of the (unwarranted) insecurity of being naturally tan, and attempts to make it a point to create the insecurity if it is not there. They go so far as to couple “bad skin” with images of a girl who has an honest-to-God tan complexion. Don’t believe me? Youtube is your magnifying glass, Sherlock. The chronological order of the advertisements can be deciphered via video quality, as well as how openly the flaws in the video are easier to spot.
Apparently the lotion is a successful “lightening cream” from India and has been critiqued for promoting racism since 2003; at least, that is the earliest article I managed to find while Googling the product. The company Hindustan Unilever (parent company is Unilever) has been criticized especially for blatantly having the model in their ads to show open remorse when not pale, then especially happy when she’s a few tints lighter.
I honestly just find it to be so stupid.
Whether the product is effective is of no relevance as far as I am concerned. If you want to be paler, go for it. If you want to get a tan, go for it. The mere fact that this product is marketed as a savior from the dark, unhealthy, horrible skin complexion to a savior lighter one is in bad taste.
I mean, the ramifications on people’s mentality about their skin tone and where they stand on an international scale, as it’s tied in so closely with one’s ego, are catastrophic.
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oh thank god! somebody other than me is out there who believes the ads are excruciatingly stupid and painful to watch! all fairness cream ads are stupid, but this one just takes it to a whole new level of stupidity. what has success got to do with fairness! I mean I can still understand if they show that she is not getting married because she’s dark because that’s true, even dark guys want ‘fair and beautiful’ girls. there was this guy who told me he only dates fair girls :O WOW, i felt like an alien. Sad,very sad indeed.