in newspapers or on the Web that are used by families to arrange

suitable alliances, and you will see that most potential grooms and

their families are looking for $$fair$$ brides; some even are progressive enough to invite responses from women belonging to a

different caste. These ads, hundreds of which appear in India$$s

daily newspapers, refl ect attempts to solicit individuals with the

appropriate religion, caste, regional ancestry, professional and

educational qualifi cations, and, frequently, skin color. Even in the

growing numbers of ads that announce $$caste no bar,$$ the adjective

$$fair$$ regularly precedes professional qualifi cations. In everyday

conversation, the ultimate compliment on someone$$s looks is to

say someone is gora $($fair$).$I have no problem with people wanting to be lighter,$$ said a Delhi beauty parlor owner, Saroj Nath. $$It

doesn$$t make you racist, any more than trying to make yourself

look younger makes you ageist.$$

Bollywood $($India$$s Hollywood$)$ glorifi es conventions on beauty

by always casting a fair$-$skinned actress in the role of heroine, surrounded by the darkest extras. Women want to use whiteners because it is $$aspirational$,$ like losing weight.$$

Even the gods supposedly lament their dark complexion$$

Krishna sings plaintively, $$Radha kyoon gori, main kyoon kala?

$($Why is Radha so fair when I$$m dark?$).$ A skin defi cient in

melanin $($the pigment that determines the skin$$s brown color$)$

is an ancient predilection. More than $3,500$ years ago, Charaka,

the famous sage, wrote about herbs that could help make the

skin fair.

Indian dermatologists maintain that fairness products cannot

truly work as they reach only the upper layers of the skin and so

do not affect melanin production. Nevertheless, for some, Fair &

Lovely is a $$miracle worker.$$ A user gushes that $$The last time

I went to my parents$$ home, I got compliments on my fair skin

from everyone.$$ For others, there is only disappointment. One

$26-$year$-$old working woman has been a regular user for the past

eight years but to no avail. $$I should have turned into Snow

White by now but my skin is still the same wheatish color.$$ As

an owner of a public relations fi rm commented, $$My maid has

been using Fair and Lovely for years and I still can$$t see her in

the dark $....$ But she goes on using it$.$ Hope springs eternal, I

suppose.$$

The number of Indians who think lighter skin is more beautiful

may be shrinking. Sumit Isralni, a $22-$year$-$old hair designer in his

father$$s salon, thinks things have changed in the last two years,

at least in India$$s most cosmopolitan cities, Delhi, Mumbai, and

Bangalore. Women now $$prefer their own complexion, their natural way$$ Isralni says; he prefers a more $$Indian beauty$$ himself: $$I

won$$t judge my wife on how fair her complexion is$.$ Sunita Gupta,

a beautician in the same salon, is more critical. $$It$$s just foolishness!$$ she exclaimed. The premise of the ads that women could

not become airline attendants if they are dark$-$skinned was wrong,

she said. $$Nowadays people like black beauty.$$ It is a truism that

women, especially in the tropics, desire to be a shade fairer, no

matter what their skin color. Yet, unlike the approach used in India,

advertisements elsewhere usually show how to use the product and

how it works.

Cultural Norms, Fair & Lovely,and

Advertising

CASE $22$

Fair & Lovely, a branded product of Hindustan Lever Ltd$.($HLL$),$

is touted as a cosmetic that lightens skin color. On its Web site

$($www$.$hll$.$com$),$ the company calls its product $$the miracle

worker,$$proven to deliver one to three shades of change.$$ While

tanning is the rage in Western countries, skin lightening treatments

are popular in Asia.

According to industry sources, the top$-$selling skin lightening cream in India is Fair & Lovely from Hindustan Lever Ltd$.$

$($HLL$),$ followed by CavinKare$$s Fairever brand. HLL$$s Fair &

Lovely brand dominated the market with a $90$ percent share until

CavinKare Ltd$.($CKL$)$ launched Fairever. In just two years, the

Fairever brand gained an impressive $15$ percent market share.

HLL$$s share of market for the Fair & Lovely line generates about

$$60$ million annually. The product sells for about $23$ rupees $($$$0\mathrm{.}29)$

for a $25-$gram tube of cream.

The rapid growth of CavinKare$$s Fairever $($www$.$cavinkare

$.$com$)$ brand prompted HLL to increase its advertising effort and to

launch a series of ads depicting a $$fairer girl gets the boy theme.$$

One advertisement featured a fi nancially strapped father lamenting

his fate, saying, $$If only I had a son,$$ while his dark$-$skinned daughter looks on$,$ helpless and demoralized because she can$$t bear the fi $-$

nancial responsibility of her family. Fast$-$forward and plain Jane has

been transformed into a gorgeous light$-$skinned woman through the

use of a $$fairness cream,$$ Fair & Lovely. Now clad in a miniskirt,

the woman is a successful fl ight atten