In an attempt to give their target audience a hands-on experience, a leading fairness cream brand for men has constructed an entire application on Facebook, through which users can actually lighten the skin tone on their profile picture and preview their enhanced fairness that the cream promises to deliver.
Although the campaign is becoming a roaring success, with 800 followers on Facebook and more joining, it has also raised a few provocative questions about the racist thought process it is promoting. Says Vikas Swarup, an investment banker, “It’s sad that the country is still caught up in the age-old mindset. People here still make a dark-skinned person feel inferior to a fair skinned one. I have experienced this myself, but I choose to ignore it. And these kind of products further fuel such obsessions.”
Some people also feel that the country keeps falling into its own racist trap. “How can we accuse fair skinned Westerners of racist behaviour? Unless we learn to respect ourselves and respect others for what they are, this country is not going anywhere,” says a highly disgruntled Akash Khera. “It’s just a brand that is trying to sell its product by tapping into a popular mindset. This has been happening for years now,” says adman Jay Phadnis.