‘Are we white yet?’ Abhay Deol asked the question on Currentmoodmag.com, and naming hisBollywood colleagues who have endorsed fairness creams, picked at our barely-closed wounds from the comments of former BJP parliamentarian Tarun Vijay’s on living with ‘black people’ from South India.
You could pass this off as a storm in the social-media teacup, except, it’s bigger. Global Industry Analysts, a market intelligence agency, has projected that the world fairness market will reach US$ 23 billion by 2020. Beyond this financial worth, is the store individuals set by it — a tool to attain the perfect job or man.
So, what’s the problem with fairness creams? Aren’t they only filling an existing need? Fair questions, all. Here are the answers.
Fair is beautiful, but only after making dark the bad guy; the message thrown at us repeatedly is that if you’re dark, you are unattractive and unsuccessful. As Kavitha Emmanuel, Director, Women of Worth, initiator of the Dark is Beautiful Campaign, says, “At a personal and basic level, believing that ‘Fair is lovely’ is toxic, reinforcing a belief that a person’s worth and value are measured by the colour of his/her skin. That is a dangerous discrimination, which has a lasting, damaging effect on an individual’s self-worth.”
Playing on our insecurities is the basis of advertising, perhaps even to deepen them to sell more products, via celebrities such as Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham. According to psychotherapist and founder of Life Skills Experts, Aparna Samuel Balasundaram, even children under 10 internalise that being dark is a disadvantage. “The medium of advertisements gives importance to the message sent. When a famous personality — seen as a role model — endorses a brand or concept, it adds another layer of truth.”
In her practice, Balasundaram has come across the effects innumerable times, from the college boy who wonders whether he will do well in his MBA interview because he is dark, to the pretty teenager who wishes she looked like her mother because her mother is fair. “It affects many other behaviours, because unlike pimples or glasses, you can’t outgrow your skin,” she says.
So, down the line, the skin colour bias comes into play when selecting a bride, hiring within the hospitality industry, or casting a lead role and representation in the media or film world. Many brands still view a dark model as “un-sellable”. Women, of course, are more affected than men.
A physical risk
In 2014, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), India, tested fairness creams and discovered that 44% contained mercury. Mercury in cosmetic products, both those imported and manufactured here, is banned in India (65 parts per million is allowed in eye products; 1 part per million of unintentional use in other finished cosmetics). The report also threw up another scary fact — even products that didn’t have the words “fair” or “whitening” in their branding had mercury. So, “light”, “anti-marks”, “glow” and “radiance” are to be watched out for.
The World Health Organization lists kidney damage as the main effect of mercury in skin-lightening creams. Other effects are skin rashes, skin discolouration, reduction in the skin’s resistance to bacterial and fungal infections, and anxiety, depression or psychosis. Fairness soaps also have an impact — the water drains into rivers and seas, contaminating fish. In a 2016 paper, titled Women’s Disempowerment and the Market for Skin Whitening Products: Experimental Evidence from India, the researchers point to strong pharmaceutical products sold under the whitening umbrella. These contain bleaching agent and melanin production inhibitor hydroquinone, which is banned in Europe and Australia, because it is believed to be a carcinogen.
Delhi-based dermatologist Dr Vandana Chatrath says that there are fairness creams and brightening products. The latter leave your skin the same colour, but give the appearance of looking clearer and brighter because it reflects more light.
“The main ingredient for this is Vitamin C, but Vitamin C is an unstable product and anything less than 10% does not work,” she says.
As a paper titled Fairness Creams in the Indian Market: Issues to be Resolved, says: “Skin lightening is not only a psychological and social problem, but also a public health issue that needs to be addressed with targeted interventions aimed at changing perceptions and educating people.”
