During the recent Rajya Sabha session, MP for Congress, Viplove Thakur raised the subject of fairness creams and sought a ban on them. She stated that the claims made by the brands that created fairness creams were ‘false promises’ and that the government should look into this. “Every cream promises to make them fair, but the results of such claims are never tested,” she said. Viplove also claimed that the advertisements were demeaning to women.
The controversy over fairness creams have been raging for a while. Now some brands also make a special fairness cream for men. As a society, we seem to be obsessed with fair skin. Just take a look at the matrimonial ads in the papers and online. You’ll see the word ‘fair ’ mentioned in the first two lines of the ads, much before education, age and other criteria most of the time.
Does it make sense to ban these creams? Will it serve the purpose, or is this issue a lot more complicated than it looks??
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I don't believe these products should be encouraged. Firstly, because they can be very harmful to the skin and the chemicals used could affect your skin later and secondly, I think it doesn't work. Instead the idea of loving yourself no matter what your skin colour is, should be encouraged. I think majority of people here believe that if you're fair, you're beautiful, which is a misconception. Beauty should be about being healthy instead of being fair. I'm personally not drawn to the idea of being fair is beautiful. I think it is a person's unique features like their smile or their eyes that makes them beautiful
- Wynzel Rebello, artist
The only thing that should be sorted by colour is the laundry.
- Paloma D'Sa Rodrigues, teacher
Propagating that only fairness works is definitely demeaning. Looking at the Top Model series, they always give equal weightage to dark and lighter skinned models. In our own country, not too long ago, even Sunny Leone put one of the contestants in place when she used a derogatory statement for another darker skinned contestant. And if girls wanna be fair, why have the tanning places popped up or why are make-up companies creating compact powders in tan colors?
Sanjukta Dasgupta, HR administrator
Totally stupid and ridiculous. It's the gora chamdi effect that has been drilled into our culture for years and years - Michelle Natasha D'souza, HR consultant
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The #TGLife View
A ban on anything is never the answer. It only serves to pile on the publicity to the issue. Yes, the obsession with fair skin is an issue and it must be resolved. But, as always, we would be directing our ire at a product that was designed to cater to the ‘needs’ of the people and give them a ready-made alternative than have them grind pastes and apply them every night. Those needs are the problem, not the fairness products.
Simply put, just as we are tolerant to those who want to have a nose job, or to those who keep on changing the colour of their hair, we have to be tolerant to those who wish to become fair. However, we also need to tackle the myth that fair is the only beautiful. What we should be doing is empowering dark-skinned women. When they are comfortable in their own skin., when they do not have to deal with nagging parents or relatives who demean them by ridiculing their dark skin, it’s only then that we will have tackled the issue. Banning fairness creams will not solve the issue. One way to start would be to encourage actors and other role models to denounce such brands and not to help their advertising campaigns in any way. Easier said than done? Sure. But it’s still a more workable solution than a blanket ban.
