India’s Obsession with Fairness Being Lovely #unfairandlovely

The company producing a common Indian skincare product ‘Fair and Lovely’ have announced plans to rename the colourist logo, during global Black Lives Matter movements and activism against colourism and against the use of skin-lightening products.

For far too long, Indian society has been obsessed with skin-lightening products, with the message that the fairer skin you have, the prettier you actually are. Perhaps it stems from colonialism, perhaps its perpetuated by light-skinned Bollywood stars and models. Either way, it seems this one change in name is far too little too late.

The company Hindustan Unilever announced they would ‘stop using the word ‘Fair’ in order to promote ‘a more inclusive vision of beauty’. This includes a discontinuation of the ‘Fine Fairness’ brightening serum sold as a Neutrogena product in Asia, as well as an Indian moisturiser sold under Clean & Clear branded ‘Clear Fairness Cream’.

“Fair and Lovely has been a household name within Indian families all around the world,”

Whilst Unilever maintain that their brand ‘has never been and is not a bleaching product’, the company will now emphasise ‘glow, even tone, skin clarity and radiance’, stepping away from promoting lighter skin.

Fair and Lovely has been a household name within Indian families all around the world, and its use is maintained by a general social discontent with darker skin, including a deep shunning of tanning. As India’s largest selling skin lightening cream, the annual revenue is 24 billion rupees or £256 million.

Last year, Unilever removed images on the packaging of the tube that portrayed before and after images of darker skin turning lighter.

“The internalised racism which is so deep rooted in Indian society requires more than just a name change.”

Whilst this news is definitely a step in the right direction, it may not counteract the deep-rooted colourism prevalent in society. However, other companies are now following suit it seems, with influential Indian dating site shaddi.com recently having removed their skin lightening image filter and the feature that allowed users to search for others based on skin colour.

The internalised racism which is so deep rooted in Indian society requires more than just a name change. It requires a greater acceptance of the beauty of all skin colours, of diversity within Bollywood, and societal changes in viewing beauty standards.

In the last month, since the murder of George Floyd sparked protests and activism around the world, many companies have been involved in a radical rebranding, from Disney redesigning their famous Splash Mountain ride, to Quaker Oats refurbishing their Aunt Jemima brand.

Meg Amin

Featured image courtesy of Sari Montag on Flickr. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.