Use of whitening creams in India

[ray245]

BBC

It is being called "Snow White syndrome" in India, a market where sales of whitening creams are far outstripping those of Coca Cola and tea. India also has the world's second most lucrative marriage industry - the first being neighbouring China - that has grown to a whopping $40bn a year spent on weddings, dowries jewellery etc.

And demand for fair-complexioned brides and grooms to grace these occasions is as high as ever. Fuelling this demand is the country's 75-odd reality shows where being fair, lovely and handsome means instant stardom.

As a result, the Indian whitening cream market is expanding at the rate of nearly 18% a year. The country's largest research agency, AC Nielson, estimates that figure will rise to about 25% this year - and the market to be worth an estimated $432m, an all-time high.

With the Indian middle class expected to increase 10-fold to 583 million people by 2025, it looks as if things will only get better.

But there have been questions by medical experts about the effect of these creams on the skin.

Brand ambassador

The implicit assumption by many is this: the whiter the skin, the more attractive you are. John Abraham, a top Indian actor and model, says that "Indian men want to look better".

And he should know. The market is booming like never before. Launched way back in 1978, Hindustan Unilever's Fair & Lovely is the leader in women's lightening skincare while Calcutta's Emami group leads the male equivalent with its brand, Fair And Handsome.

The company calls this brand - launched in 2005 - the world's number one fairness cream. It achieved sales of $13m in 2008-9 and has Shahrukh Khan, another Bollywood superstar, as its brand ambassador.

And then there are female stars endorsing similar products. Katrina Kaif, naturally fair, sells Olay's Natural White while Deepika Padukone sells Neutrogena's Fine Fairness range. Sonam Kapoor sells L'Oreal's White Perfect while Preity Zinta, once a top star, endorsed Fem's Herbal Bleach.

And there are many brands on the shelves to choose from: lightening, brightening, clearing, whitening, anti-pigmentation, freshening, anti-dullness and even illuminating.

"India is on a fairness hook, everyone wants to look fair," says Mohan Goenka, director of the Calcutta-based Emami group whose Fair and Handsome brand (for men) - the first of its kind in the market - fights for shelf space with Hindustan Unilever's Fair and Lovely (for women).

A recent study by Hindustan Unilever showed how men in southern states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are fervent purchasers of whitening creams. For example, Tamil Nadu has been recording - for the last year - the highest number of sales for Narayanan, a skin-whitening cream from the Unilever stable.

Another report in the daily Economic Times says sales of skin-whitening cosmetic products were also high in tribal-dominated states like Jharkhand and Chattisgarh.

"The market in India is huge, really huge," says a Proctor and Gamble spokesman.

Experts say that demand has boomed because of the tendency to discriminate against a person's skin colour, a practice which is still wide across rural India.

Steroids

"But if your complexion is fair, you avoid that pinch. Everyone in India wants to be fairer. At times it is repulsive, worse than chalking of geishas' faces in Japan but everyone wants to have a jar or tube of skin-whitening cream," says fashion designer Rohit Bal who has dressed Bollywood actresses and visited the sets of reality shows.

As a result, the products - priced between 50 cents and $150 a jar/tube - are in great demand countrywide. No study has ever been done to discover what "fairness in four weeks" achieves. Worse, there are several controversies attached to such products.

"If you apply anything on the skin, there will obviously be side effects," says Rues VK Sharma, Head of the Dermatology Department at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

"Very few know that many of these creams contain steroids. Whatever doctors say will always be a drop in the ocean, as advertisements flooding the market have a far larger impact on the minds of people."

But companies say otherwise.

"We are not selling steroids and till date, the company has not been involved in a single lawsuit where someone has blamed us for messing up their skin. Our products are lab-tested and we vouch for it." says Mohan Goenka, of the Emami group.

The writer is business editor of Tehelka magazine

[UnderAGreySky]

Yeah, this gets on my nerves BIG time. The stereotype of "fairer = prettier" is pervasive through most of Indian society. One look at the Classifieds is enough. Racist? Probably. Ingrained? Definitely.

Thing is, I can't see how this attitude can be changed. The only way I see is for naturally pretty dark-skinned actresses to get more publicity, but that doesn't seem to happen.

[Shroom Man 777]

In the Philippines, those with enough money often buy shitty glutathione injections to whiten their skin. Those who don't have enough money stick to glutathione soap, or placenta products. Heh.

I find dark skinned chicks very sexy. Also the very pale ones. And the well-tanned ones. Man.

[Vendetta]

Meanwhile in the UK and US, people give themselves cancer on sunbeds to achieve the exact opposite result.

Maybe we should just swap?

[mr friendly guy]

To add on to Vendetta's point, there are now tanning creams available as well, although I am not sure if they are available locally and people using it may have to buy them online. Presumably they work by being an ACTH derivative.

[adam_grif]

Aside from potential health side effects, I don't see how this is worse than any other arbitrary beauty characterisic. If it works and it's safe, I say whatever floats your boat.

I find dark skinned chicks very sexy. Also the very pale ones. And the well-tanned ones. Man.

I've yet to find an ethnicity that didn't have at least one member I've wanted to bang furiously.

[Simon_Jester]

Yeah, this gets on my nerves BIG time. The stereotype of "fairer = prettier" is pervasive through most of Indian society. One look at the Classifieds is enough. Racist? Probably. Ingrained? Definitely.

Is this a colonial thing, or is it older than that? I'm going to guess "older," but I'm not sure.

[adam_grif]

I suppose I should point out the inverse of this, which is the practise of tanning on a beach, helping to give Australia it's enormous incidence of skin cancer. I trust people abhorring the skin whitening practises are also opposed to this.

[Shroom Man 777]

I think it's simply a case of people going after what's "different". I remember someone said that fat people were sexy in the Middle Ages because back in the day, people are skinny and starved. But nowadays, skinny people are sexy because people are all fat from ugly fast foods. Also, back then fairness was hot because everyone toiled under the sun and were thus dark. While nowadays, most people are working in doors and thus pale, while those who have time to go to the beach and tan are seen as better because they are not the norm or something. These different and unusual things that are outside the norm are, usually, only available to those people more well-off than the average person, thus making them more attractive.

I just heard that. It may be complete BS.

[UnderAGreySky]

Is this a colonial thing, or is it older than that? I'm going to guess "older," but I'm not sure.

Not sure. The prevalence of predominantly white leading ladies in western cinema hasn't helped either. The more you go into Southern India, the darker the people get. In fact, Tamilians and Sri Lankans are at times similar in skin tone to equatorial Africans. It's not like we don't have black-skinned goddesses either...

Whatever the reason, it gets me riled up. I had a (distant) cousin who, when asked what kind of a husband she wanted her parents to look for, said "Tall and fair".

[Vendetta]

Yeah, this gets on my nerves BIG time. The stereotype of "fairer = prettier" is pervasive through most of Indian society. One look at the Classifieds is enough. Racist? Probably. Ingrained? Definitely.

Is this a colonial thing, or is it older than that? I'm going to guess "older," but I'm not sure.

I'm not sure, but the same social perception of "lighter skin = more attractive" is present in Japan as well, and Shroom's post indicates that it's also present in the Philippines. I wouldn't be surprised if it's common across the entire south and south east asia.

It's also present in America, in fact. When was the last time you saw a famous actress or singer who was a really dark skinned black person? Hollywood, TV, and the music industry invariably look for lighter skinned or mixed race actresses when they want someone to be considered attractive.

[Korto]

I think it's simply a case of people going after what's "different". I remember someone said that fat people were sexy in the Middle Ages because back in the day, people are skinny and starved. But nowadays, skinny people are sexy because people are all fat from ugly fast foods. Also, back then fairness was hot because everyone toiled under the sun and were thus dark. While nowadays, most people are working in doors and thus pale, while those who have time to go to the beach and tan are seen as better because they are not the norm or something. These different and unusual things that are outside the norm are, usually, only available to those people more well-off than the average person, thus making them more attractive.

I just heard that. It may be complete BS.

Actually, I feel you hit on it at the end, that it's not that the look is different, but that the look required money/power to achieve. Money and power is attractive in anyone. (Skinny people these days are often those who can afford personal trainers, and it seems to be the cheap food that loaded with fat).
I admit modern-day is a bit of a problem for this theorey as, at least in the West, we can mostly afford any kind of look we like.

I have this horrible suspicion that with the Indians, they're trying to look like the world-ruling Westerners. That at a sub-conscious level the look is attractive because it looks caucasion.

[Johonebesus]

After northern India was conquered by the Aryans, light skin came to be associated with aristocracy. Recent history has no doubt fed into it, but the attitude is an ancient prejudice.

[PainRack]

Is this a colonial thing, or is it older than that? I'm going to guess "older," but I'm not sure.

Older. The Aryans were traditionally lighter coloured than South Indians, and this actually translates over to caste issues as well.

[Hillary]

I think it's simply a case of people going after what's "different". I remember someone said that fat people were sexy in the Middle Ages because back in the day, people are skinny and starved. But nowadays, skinny people are sexy because people are all fat from ugly fast foods. Also, back then fairness was hot because everyone toiled under the sun and were thus dark. While nowadays, most people are working in doors and thus pale, while those who have time to go to the beach and tan are seen as better because they are not the norm or something. These different and unusual things that are outside the norm are, usually, only available to those people more well-off than the average person, thus making them more attractive.

I just heard that. It may be complete BS.

Not at all, high society women used to put on lead based makeup and take mercury to make themselves look paler.

[Shroom Man 777]

But that was because the masses were tanned or darker skinned?

[Liberty]

Am I the only woman not obsessed with changing how I look? Sure, I'll shave my legs, pluck excess facial hair, and put a little gel in my hair, but I have never tried changing the color of my skin, or getting plastic surgery, etc. And I definitely wouldn't try to change something I didn't like about me if it ran the risk of giving me cancer!

I cringe every time my sister goes tanning...

Oh, and Shroomy, it may be just me but people who go tanning strike me as lower class. I mean, most of the people I see who are noticeably tanned are lower class. It seems like people who actually have money know better than run the risk of cancer like that. Or is it just me?

[General Zod]

I'm not sure, but the same social perception of "lighter skin = more attractive" is present in Japan as well, and Shroom's post indicates that it's also present in the Philippines. I wouldn't be surprised if it's common across the entire south and south east asia.

It's also present in America, in fact. When was the last time you saw a famous actress or singer who was a really dark skinned black person? Hollywood, TV, and the music industry invariably look for lighter skinned or mixed race actresses when they want someone to be considered attractive.

Light skin = pretty has been the cultural norm in Japan for centuries. Although in the last few years there's trends of doing the opposite and you have groups of girls blackening their skin, in an attempt to emulate Californian tans. I'm not sure how popular it still is though.

[Simon_Jester]

Not sure. The prevalence of predominantly white leading ladies in western cinema hasn't helped either. The more you go into Southern India, the darker the people get. In fact, Tamilians and Sri Lankans are at times similar in skin tone to equatorial Africans. It's not like we don't have black-skinned goddesses either...

The relative gap between the dark-skinned Dravidians and the lighter-skinned people of northern India was something I was thinking about in my first post. Because that's been around for thousands of years; it predates colonialism.

As for the goddesses... yes, but you also have deities with four arms or three heads. I'm reasonably confident those traits wouldn't be regarded as attractive if you actually met someone who looked like that.

[Shroom Man 777]

Light skin = pretty has been the cultural norm in Japan for centuries. Although in the last few years there's trends of doing the opposite and you have groups of girls blackening their skin, in an attempt to emulate Californian tans. I'm not sure how popular it still is though.

GANGURO! Oh, I think the fad's died down. But, uh, I know next to nothing about Japanese stuff.

[Vastatosaurus Rex]

I for one happen to prefer black women, especially darker-skinned ones, so I don't agree with the whole "European look prettier" notion widespread in many non-Western countries. However, I don't have anything against men who do prefer lighter-skinned women, either. To each his own.

[Akhlut]

Am I the only woman not obsessed with changing how I look? Sure, I'll shave my legs, pluck excess facial hair, and put a little gel in my hair, but I have never tried changing the color of my skin, or getting plastic surgery, etc. And I definitely wouldn't try to change something I didn't like about me if it ran the risk of giving me cancer!

I cringe every time my sister goes tanning...

Oh, and Shroomy, it may be just me but people who go tanning strike me as lower class. I mean, most of the people I see who are noticeably tanned are lower class. It seems like people who actually have money know better than run the risk of cancer like that. Or is it just me?

From what I've been able to tell, you're from the Midwest, where the lower class traditionally is manual labor (farmers, factory workers, etc.), wherein getting a tan is a sign you work outdoors and, thus, are lower class.

On the coasts, the West coast especially, the labor there, as I understand it, is more indoor labor (aside from construction), so it would be the upper class that would have the free time associated with being able to go outside and hang out at the beach long enough to tan.

[Sarevok]

Its not a trend. Go into a social gathering of upper classes in subcontinent and you will see most of the men and women look very european. then travel into a south indian village and you will be greeted with a sea of muddy faces. This is how it has been for thousands of years. Interestingly the term for caste division in many indic languages is barna. Which also means color. Is the two related ? I do not know but would not be surprised.

Speaking as an Indian subcontinent dweller I dont think this problem can be eliminated. All my attractive female friends are pale skinned. A few have brown hair even. Are we (the men) taught they are attractive ? No, we felt about them that way since we were growing up. Sadly I think this behavior is part of the human condition - we were born with definations of what is beauty rather than taught.

[General Zod]

Its not a trend. Go into a social gathering of upper classes in subcontinent and you will see most of the men and women look very european. then travel into a south indian village and you will be greeted with a sea of muddy faces. This is how it has been for thousands of years. Interestingly the term for caste division in many indic languages is barna. Which also means color. Is the two related ? I do not know but would not be surprised.

Speaking as an Indian subcontinent dweller I dont think this problem can be eliminated. All my attractive female friends are pale skinned. A few have brown hair even. Are we (the men) taught they are attractive ? No, we felt about them that way since we were growing up. Sadly I think this behavior is part of the human condition - we were born with definations of what is beauty rather than taught.

I dunno. I find there's so many fuckable women among just about any race that I simply don't have any kind of preference. Personally I'd jump in the sack with a dark skinned black woman as quickly as a pale skinned white woman. I suspect a good deal of it has to do with social expectations and peer pressure as much as anything.

[Solauren]

Am I the only woman not obsessed with changing how I look? Sure, I'll shave my legs, pluck excess facial hair, and put a little gel in my hair, but I have never tried changing the color of my skin, or getting plastic surgery, etc.

Saying as a male:
That's not changing how you look. That's more a personal comfort and grooming thing.
i.e there are times my facial hair gets on my nerves and I shave of part of the beard
I've never felt the urge to shave my legs however.