TALK: Race and Indian magazines...

This Indian ad caused a huge media furore some years ago when it aired – not so much from within the Asian community – but from those outside who couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Shah Rukh Khan, the ‘fair and handsome’ character is the Bollywood equivalent of Brad Pitt, so it’s not as though he’s strapped for cash. Rather that he probably didn’t realise what the implications would be outside his own society.

But this is just one of a plethora of adverts in India that promote lighter skin as the ideal and beautiful. Open any India classified matrimonial section and you’ll see credential like ‘female doctor, fair, tall etc’ written with total honesty. When an Indian TV producer was questioned about why the dark/light skin criteria was so, he merely replied ‘the dark girl represents eroticism, the whiter girl you would take home to mommy.’

Fair and Lovely, a whitening skin cream is still one of India’s biggest selling beauty products. You can’t help thinking that it’s either a desire to ape the ‘superior’ west or a hangover of the colonial rule (in which case a total rejection would be more fitting). Culturally, shouldn’t we all moved on? No magazines in India feature darker skinned Indian girls and they’re not the only culprits. Brands know there is money to be made from this skin lightening culture. Across Asia premium advertising brands like Chanel, Lancome et al all featuring Asia-only whitening ranges.

The insecurity (‘I’m too dark to be attractive’) only perpetuates itself with the lack of darker skinned female role models in the media to reinforce it. I’m not sure if there is an answer - just that it makes me genuinely sad to see beautiful women buying these products.

Edit to add: Somebody from the brand left me a bizarre comment about him looking handsome and fair - FREE SPEECH. Take your racism elsewhere ta.