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By Parul Gupta
NEW DELHI: In a new commercial on
Indian television, Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan tells a
sad-looking young man to start using skin-whitening cream to get the
girl he wants.
The actor is clearly telling him
it will boost sex appeal but the advice has raised hackles here
among those who say such products reinforce age-old prejudices that
equate fair skin with good looks.
Regardless, the “sex sells”
policy seems valid—promoters say sales of “fairness cream”
have shot up.
“The advertisement has worked
very well for us,” said a spokesman for India’s Emami group, the
Kolkata-based company which makes Fair and Handsome cream for men.
Emami launched the cream in 2005,
labeling the product after the popular Fair and Lovely, which has
catered to Indian women for decades and continues to be the
largest-selling fairness cream in India.
Skin-lightening
products—positioned as fairness products in India—for men are a
niche but rapidly growing part of the lucrative male grooming
sector, estimated to be worth more than 11.5 billion rupees (286
million dollars).
The total market for
skin-lightening products in India is estimated to be worth nine
billion rupees. Nearly one-third of users are said to be men.
Since the launch of Fair and
Handsome—which the Emami group claims to be the world’s first
fairness cream for men—nearly half-a-dozen products have been
vying for attention.
This year has seen the launch of
several new fairness products—the latest being Fair One Man by
pharmaceutical company Elder Healthcare.
“There is a huge growing
awareness among Indian men to look good. Being an actor who wants to
look good, I felt there was a need for this cream,” said Elder
Healthcare managing director Anuj Saxena, who is also a television
actor.
Saxena’s company is targeting
turnover of more than 100 million rupees this year.
“The men’s fairness cream
market is nascent in India, but is already one of the biggest in the
world,” he said.
Market research companies
estimate an annual growth of more than 10 percent.
The Emami group—which started
the trend—says it sensed opportunity when market research showed
many users of skin-lightening products targeted at women were
actually men.
Elder Healthcare’s Saxena, who
has acted in popular soaps for Indian television, says being fair is
beneficial.
“There is enormous pressure to
look good in the entertainment industry, and being fair helps,” he
said.
Wanting to look light skinned has
“always been the case here. Look at the matrimonial ads. Everyone
wants a fair bride or groom,” he added.
But critics balk at the use and
promotion of fairness creams, which they say perpetuate deep-rooted
prejudice.
“These products and their
advertisements reinforce an old South East Asian bias that you have
to be fair to be beautiful,” said leading advertising consultant
Prahlad Kakkar, who refuses to make such commercials.
“Sunscreens, skin-whitening,
fairness creams—they are all the same.
Regardless of the massive sums
involved and glamorous advertisements, some professional
dermatologists are skeptical about such products. They think
consumers are wasting their money.
“These creams are not
medicines, but only cosmetics which contain a tiny concentration of
skin-lightening components. They are partly effective at best,”
said Anil Malik, a skin specialist at Fortis hospital.
--AFP
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