Ad Age columnist wants you to give a “fair shake” to bleaching creams

Mythili Chandrasekar, one of the top executives at JWT India, made a plea on Ad Age today for readers to give a “fair shake” to fairness creams – products created to lighten your skin that are marketed to ethnic people around the globe.

Her argument? In the past, fairness-cream ads claimed that having lighter skin will allow you to find a husband. But today, those ads show women with lighter skin will have an easier time finding a job. Also, men are being targeted as a growing market for fairness creams.

See how progressive that is? Fairness creams are promoting gender equity these days!

The ad that Chandrasekar uses as an example of how fairness-cream advertising has shifted is this one for Fair & Lovely cream, in which a man exercises furiously to lose weight and capture the heart of a fair-skinned Indian woman.

Fairness-cream commercials have shifted from showing women who say, “I’m worried about whether the man will accept me” to “See what an effect I have on the man,” Chandrasekar says. And that supposedly means progress.

Just one problem… I don’t think sexism is the primary argument against fairness creams or their marketing. How about the fact that these ads imply that a person’s worth only increases as their skin becomes lighter? Isn’t that the inherent problem here? Sadly, Chandrasekar does nothing to address that issue.

Also, I’m not sure fairness cream marketing has shifted quite as much as Chandrasekar claims… Take a look at this commercial that ran earlier this year in India for Pond’s White Beauty. The commercial, part of a five-part series, features a woman who loses her boyfriend to a lighter skinned woman, until she uses White Beauty to lighten her complexion and win back his affection:

If you’d like to see the full story of how lighter skin equals a more successful love life, check out the Japanese commercials for Pond’s Flawless White (can the names for these creams be any more offensive?), which follows the exact same story line:

Sorry, Ms. Chandrasekar. I don’t think you can claim “progress” until the cosmetics and ad industries stop telling people that their success depends upon bleaching their skin.

Related:

Life Is Fair [MulticultClassics]

“White Beauty” has an ugly message [Jezebel]

Skin-whitening adverts ignite race row in India [The Independent]