Skin-whitening ad ignites race row in India

In Pakistan and India, the paler the skin, the more a woman is desirable for marriage. The darker the skin (they call dark-skinned women "salty"), the better she is at sex is the belief. So darker-skinned women are often associated with wantonness, and therefore not desirable as wives, only desirable as sexual partners.

Many countries influenced by western views decide that whiter skin means beauty and darker skin means ugliness and unsanitary views. Just look at Japan.

Wow, its the same thing in the Philippines! I remember seeing a Dove skin whitening commercial where the poor, ugly dark skinned Filipina is magically transformed into a fair skinned beauty. And to think Americans love to be tan. Why can't people just be happy with what they have?

Fair skin was always desirable in darker-skinned countries in the past for the same reason that being overweight was attractive - it signified wealth. If you had enough food to get fat, or if you didn't have to labor out in the sun, hence aquiring darker skin, you were considered a beauty. Pretty shallow, eh?

I don't know if this is a considerable factor in this case, but it very well may be. I do know that I met a fellow native of Italy, and when she saw my VERY pale skin, she scoffed and said that i must be one of those "rich white people from the north."

When i was in Indonesia i saw an ad for skin bleaching cream with the slogan 'we understand'. Coming from Australia i knew that a few hundred kilometres south the same company marketed products to make womens skin darker. I dont know how a company could knowingly operate in such a way, i guess there is the supply and demand model and then there's the try and make the world a better place model?

People were happier with who they were before they were brainwashed into believing who they were was not that good. The media is a powerful tool which dictates more than it reacts to social change. If you watch the video provided by jade_azul16 you get the sense that people are not trying to be beautiful but rather to fit into an image created by the industry. India, and for that matter a large part of the globe, needs to revisit their thoughts/ideas on beauty and the origin of these ideas. Then knowing, go forward. An act does not stand alone but it is an act with intent. When people use this cream what are they trying to attain and by offering this product what are the manufacturers trying to promote? Not every useful profitable idea makes it to market so why did this one? Maybe it is just money but I smell a rat.

What is it with all this I'm not happy who I am thing? I am short, to they have a tall drug? Love who you are it just feels better that way!

this is worse than fake 'n baking!

THIS is VERY stupid...lowering complexion will make humans more susceptible to the already damaging rays of the sun! Darker skin should be embraced for the ability to repel harmful direct sunlight...

**here's to ME never being sunburned**

turn yourselves white so we can sell you some suntan lotion....

Obviously people who try to become more white, hate being the color that they are. Skinny people want to be more buff, fat people want to become skinny. Girls with no boobs want bigger boobs, very white people want to be a little more tan. Of course it's all about self image. All of the above are what sells in this world, like it or not.

people should learn to love themselves instead of holding themselves to a standard that is unnatural for their body or skin type.

As horrible as this sounds - I can't wait for this product to come to N. America. I would buy it in a flash.

WOW THIS IS REALLY A MIND BOGLING STORY K FIRST OF ALL THIS IS RACIST BEACAUSE U CAN GET A TAN NATURALLY OR TANNING BED BUT THE MAIN THING IS YOU CAN DO IT WITH THE SUN BUT IN THIS STORY YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH SPEACIAL SKIN LIGHTENING SESIONS WHICH MAKE IT RACIST BECAUSE YOU CAN ONLY GO ONE WAY WITH TANNING YOU GOT TWO WAYS/

Whoever is promoting this as a race issue obviously has an interest in promoting discord,for whatever reason.I love having a nice dark tan,but(sorry to offend)have no interest in becoming black.Is that wrong?

WHITE IS BEAUTIFUL.

My mother told me that woman used to shun the sun. The would open umbrellas on a sunny day to protect themselvies.

My daughter instructed me never to mention her sun tanning days to my granddaughter. My daughter will not permit my granddaughter to sun bath.

I think pure white skin is beautiful, but then you must remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

So isn't racist to say that my love of beautiful white skin is wrong.

im from kuwait and we have a huuge indian population so we get a lot of indian tv too, and these sorts of commercials have been playing since i was a child. its not anything new.

(From Canada) They want to be lighter and we want to be darker - to bad we can't share! Oh wait! We are! In a long term sort of way - lol

When will judging individuals by the shade of their skin be out of style? This is simply institutionalized racism. Society pushes people to forget about what is important in life, and focus on the most foolish things.

They both must be pretty flippin shallow minded folk if she thinks that he will come back to ther if only she was paler and he thought that too.

I think Its a bad peice of advertisement playing on the Indian Caste system like some other people have commented.

I have to sit indoors all day at my computer and wish I could get out in the sun! But then, the sun isn't out that much here. Def not as much as in India. If it was out as much as it was in india, here, i'd prob get sick of it too. Sweating all the time and stuff. Hot and sticky and shit. I'd be wearing one of those dresses too mate, trust me. Get me a breeze up in this biatch! Cool my gonads.

Wonder why they eat such hot flippin food then.

Sorry, but I reckon she is much fitter when she is darker. She looks nuff buff when shes brown and dud when she is white. Innit doe!

It is a weird one.

Some cultures prefer darker, others prefer lighter.
I know in India they have had the caste system. The rich folk at the top worked indoors and were paler than the folk that worked (for the pale dudes) outside (building their pools and pickin their rice and ting).

Its a shame that people are trying to make money from an idea that should really be outdated and out of place in a modern multi cultural society in the year 2008. But then thats my view coming from a modern multi cultural society in the year 2008.

People should really stop trying to make money from this kind of thing.

Putting what must essentially be bleach on your skin can't be good either. I'm glad I live in the EU with its consumer protection malarke.

NoTTsRuFFiaN!

Damn!

Are they more susceptible to the damage of UV/UVA rays after their skin is bleached?

obsession with pale skin naw it's obsession with white skin people in india need to love themselves not hate themselves and not trying to be white

um...this might have been already noted, but dont' you think it could be a holdover from the social stratification enforced in india's past? the caste system maybe?? Historically, those with lighter skin have been at the top of the Indian hierarchy and those with darker have been at the bottom going all the way to the "untouchables" who were/are the darkest. And by historically I'm talking about 2000+ years, which is how long the caste system has been entrenched in India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India

it's all right there, just click the link.

I'll try to keep this short lol.. I am black and was born and raised in the US. I thought this story was interesting for various reasons. It showed this type of issue was not only prevalent in the black/African-American culture of the US. To many, and even on a subconscious level, lighter/fair skinned blacks are generally perceived as more attractive, desirable, and "marketable" in media.

At the risk of oversimplifying the issue, I wonder Is this trend in India correlated with their boom in economic growth? If so, one could make the argument that due to globalization and more exposure to the outside world via business, media, & advertisements etc..., that maybe some in India have fallen in love with the "images of beauty" that dominate most mediums - from movies to make-up ads, and want to emulate as best they can what they see. Some Asians get upper eyelid surgery to appear "less Asian". I've heard some say it is to assimilate more into American society and appear "less ethnic". I'm sure a lot of people have posted similar sentiments, but In my opinion, generally speaking, what is commonly perceived as the European standard of beauty - (light skin, blue eyes and long flowing hair - i.e Caucasian features) is still dominant in the world. But again, even though I've visited other countries, I'm speaking from the perspective of someone who has lived in the US for all of my life.

One word:
Pathetic.

in Hindu iconography most deities are depicted as having "milk white" skin - it means a transcendence over death ( being as pale as a corpse , and still living ) among other things . the "aryan" invaders who brought vedic religion to India were lighter skinned than native Indians , and there's always been racism - indigenous indians were classified as untouchables for the most part . i'm no expert , this is just what i've heard .
and i despise what "hollywood" has done to this world .

I feel sad and sorry about it...

Not being familiar with Hindi culture, I cannot accurately say how inappropriate (or not) that ad is there in comparison to how that would be perceived in the US... Tanning salons and tanning creams are humungous business here in the US, is it really any different?

I think it is the same a tanning. It's insecure people trying to be somthing they're not.

What makes this different to the tanning adverts on tv? I don't get insulted by them so why do people these?

Just do what you want within consideration, and anyone who is bothered by it can waste their lives getting angry about it. It doesnt bother me. So i dnt plan on wasting my time worrying over it.

There was a pod on current interviewing a black community asking "dark or lighter skin?" with varying results. I believe there was no universal agreement. But I don't get the point of this particular article aside from its addressing to wanting to be everything you are not.

Pale desires to be tan, black desires to be light, tan want to be pale, pale wants.....

So sad, and so disillusioned thanks to media saturation. Some of the most beautiful women you'll ever see, in my opinion, are women from India.

I think it's really wide spread cross culturally. In both indian and spanish tv and movies, light skinned, white-looking actors dominate. It has to do with the dominant idea of beauty, and sadly, having light skin has become attached to that. In different societies, it has occurred for different reasons--for example even europeans viewed light skin favorably above tan skin because it signified that you didn't have to work out in the fields. I think that in our new era of freedom and with our ideas of equality, we have to try and fight a single vision of beauty and people's natural skin color needs to be appreciated more.

I think the case in india is different than a lot of the posts here because indians have a much broader array of skin tones than caucasians, so a standard of skin color means that a greater number of people are marginalized. And unlike with white people using tanning creams, it is physically really difficult and may be dangerous to one's health to lighten ones skin. If you have dark skin you probably will never be able to achieve the light skin that is advertised in this commercial.

It's a self perpetuating cycle--people will conform to what they see advertised as beautiful, and in turn advertisers will only advertise this standard more. It's dissapointing that such famous actors would support this. The imagery in the commercial is so capitalistic too--makes me think that skin lightening ang globalization are going hand in hand.

We americans are always trying to change our outer appearance so why are we should we look down on them for doing the same?

Haha, I can't believe this story has made it on current. I've been talking about this for years.

in times of yesteryear a tan was gained from working in the fields, so being tanned meant you were of working class, so the rich made their faces pale to show they didnt have to work in the fields. why cant people just be happy with how they are?

If your pale you want to tan, if your dark you want to be lighter, the grass is green or is it greener?

Some say the roots of this are in the fact that the working classes of old would be working outside in the sun, therefore becoming darker. Whereas the rich and powerfull would be shrouded and protected from the elements.

Im kind of yellowish which is fine by me. lol

im going to have to agree with most people that this is not about race and the desire to appear "white" but rather a mixture of the desire to appear exotic (and in india pale skin and light eyes is exotic) and also like ajcowley mentioned, throughout time pale skin has been considered a standard of high class because it means you are indoors all day and dont have to work outside. Theres a beautiful Punjabi wedding folk song called Madhorama Pehncha which speaks of picking a bride and one of the lines (more or less) says "lets pick the fair one with skin like butter."

I for one though have always found Indian skin to be absolutely gorgeous and would kill to have that rich caramel skin....but sadly no matter how much i tan I will just be either pale or sun burned heh. I guess you always want what you arent!

I was amazed by the number of skin-whitening beauty products on the shelves in Asia on my trip last year. I finally asked some locals about it in Cambodia and they said that in their society - your skin color is perceived as a reflection of class and education. Those that do manual labor outside have darker skin from being in the sun than people that work indoors in professional occupations. One of the owners of our hotel told me he always wears a hooded shirt so he can shield his face from the sun.

Where was this when Micheal Jackson was 18? Could have saved him a lot of cash.

This has been happening in West Africa for a while too.

But I'm sad the commercial preying on women's insecurities is not restricted to America, or even the western world. You have to be skinny, or bronzed, or pale white, or have big boobs. I guess that's just human nature.

personally i don't care what skin color a woman has as long as she is looking good it doesn't really matter.

although i do have a thing for redheads....

It's the same as tanning--it's just what's in fashion. I personally prefer pale skin while most in the U.S. prefer darker and more tanned skin (on myself, not on others).

Why would you WANT to look pale?

This is nothing more than the urge to be different. To want what you don't have.

I am Irish/French/American Indian and I am always looking to tan to make myself darker.

Younger and older alike in the US are always tanning. I see the skin lightening as nothing more than reverse tanning.

Though I think it is much harder and costly to acheive. In my opinion, discrimination is not the case.

ugh, being white is a pain in the butt!!

Shhhhh, heaven forbid the world should know that Indians perpetuate a form of self hatred in their own country.

I was thinking that it was just like tanning but not.

I wouldn't want to take something like this away from people that are doing it for a better reason than wanting to be like a "white" person. I don't know what that reason is, but I'm sure there is one or two.

I think this has more to do with who is going to use it than why it was put out to be used. It is a psychological thing, I think. It's important that people understand that beauty starts from within and reaches out, it doesn't start from out and reach in.

These shows like Extreme Make-over do a great thing for people that have problems that they could not over come physically, but all the beauty on the outside cannot convert all the "ugly" on the inside. That's something that the person has to do.

So no matter the alterations one might do on the outside if they leave their inside a mess, they are still only a mess.

Maybe I should move to India. I'm as pasty as they get.

it does remind me a lot of we pale westerners and our "tanorexia" trend. if u ask me, nothing looks (or feels) better than healthy, natural skin.

I think it's no different from tanning unless it is more ingrained. Of course if the skin bleaching products are more harmful to the skin then tanning it could also be a problem.

I don't think this has anything to do with racism; people are always attracted to what is rare and exotic and in Indian society, that happens to be pale skin!

Aryan has nothing to do with being blond haired and blue eyed(only), and everything to do with a certain spiritual and noble class of being. This is a huge misconception.

J_current

Most Glaswegians are whiter than toothpaste and will spend months in sunbeds just for a "healthy" glow. this is just people associating success with looking like one of those famous skanks

unless you look into it deeper its hard to come to a conclusion about it. is it portraying negative views about race, or is it just the same as tanning? without further research and knowing people's motives, manufacturer's motives, taste-maker's motives it's hard to come to a conclusion about this.

but ignoring the race aspect for a second, beauty ideals are constantly changing. as misticblue mentions, they want from binding womens chests in the 20s to get that flapper boyish look, to corsets to give curvy hips-waist-chest in the 40s/50s/60s then you got a skinny thing coming through when you get to the later 60s. Things change. This could change again.

Media has a huge impact on what society marks as beautiful. The dominating features currently leading are white skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair, especially for the "All-American" girl. (which is so inaccurate, but when you pick up your local magazine, or the leading ladies you see on tv or the big screen, diversity is limited.

Its amazing how over the centuries, the image of what beauty is tends to affect woman more than men. Woman have suffered from foot bindings, binding your chest, wearing insanely tight corsets, using chemicals in your eyes, bleaching skin and hair to the latest phenomena of cosmetic surgery, and these examples don't even cover half of them.

The sad part is that all these "beauty techniques" have documented negative side effects that have left woman crippled, disabled, blind, and sick with numerous health problems they would have never encountered had they had the opportunity to learn how to love their unique beauty.

Its amazing that people in this day and age, think that bleaching your skin is a GOOD thing. Its amazing, and sad.

they wanted to start showing adverts for it for the asian community in this country a while ago (i think on satellite/cable tv). It was in the news, don't know what came of it.

In parts of the US (so i have been told, correct me if i'm wrong) in black communities, the lighter skinned are seen as more attractive. Seems like a wider cultural thing than just India.

In the past it has been highly fashionable for white people to be pale too. Hence why Elizabethan women put lead based white powder on their faces.