"One of Bollywood's biggest film stars is being criticised by Asian campaigners for promoting a skin-lightening cream - a product that is now on the shelves of British shops.
The 40-second advertisement from India starts like so many others promoting razors or hair dye - but it's an ad with a very big difference.
There's a man who has no luck with the girls. He has markedly darker skin than his friends and the girl he is after. In a real song-and-dance Bollywood extravaganza, one of the biggest heart throbs of Indian cinema, Shahrukh Khan, hands over a cream to the hapless chap, along with some mild admonishment.
Within a few weeks, the young man has turned much lighter-skinned and confident. As he strides down the road like a modern-day answer to John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, the girls start flocking to him and chanting: "Hi handsome, hi handsome." Khan comes back into view with the product, Fair and Handsome.";
Full story;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7010885.stm?lsm
I don't see what the big deal is about all of this "immoral" pale beauty hype- personally i see it as no different than people advertising tanning creams and sprays over here in my country (England), or hair straightening products aimed at black african people.
So what if people are trying to aim for a body image that most of their population isn't naturally blessed with, the fact of the matter is that this has been going on for hundreds, even thousands of years, in so many other countries, way before they even became aware of other cultures where the "look" these people aim for is already naturally common place in another race. You just can't do anything to change stuff like this...because it is just something we tend to do an aweful lot as human beings.
Beauty is cruel. Beauty is not politically correct, kind and caring, and it often isn't even morally correct/ethical etc.
Hmm....
The thing is though, is that i just see this as another one of those stupid racism/politically correct issues that misses a lot of important details.
When tanning products are advertised at white people in a similar manner as to what this skin whitening product was advertised at indian people, people don't blink an eye at this sort of stuff.
But when skin whitening products are advertised at indian people, noooo, people reel back in shock and horror, concluding that it must be something to do with the British Asian culture, and that white people have just got to back off and stop influencing other people's cultures and values with our evil ideals of beauty etc.
They don't/never whole heartedly admit that this has nothing to do with the "British Asian culture" and that this sort of thing has been going on in India for thousands of years, like it has been in other cultures/countries like Japan, China and Egypt etc.
I disagree that this advert will make the problem of indian people preferring pale skin any worse than it already is, because this sort of advertising has always been there (abeit often in a more suttle form).
It would be an impossible task trying to force young and old indian people to give up their ideals (which they created) of pale skin beauty so they can be fairer to those who have dark tans- it would be like trying to force people to stop idolising a musclely body physique in men so the world could be a nicer place for skinny guys, or trying to force people to stop finding small suttle noses cute in women so all the big hook-nosed women can get a better chance at getting laid etc.
Few of us have a body that our culture in general upholds as perfect or ideal. We all have our flaws...But we still try to follow the whole fashion and beauty world ideal thing, and then complain when we can't follow our ideals in beauty and fashion because are bodies are not perfect.
Its not fair, but this the way it always has been for every generation of human beings that has ever existed.
I'm not saying that the advertising of whitening skin products is a good thing, and i don't think it should be openly encouraged either, but i think people have just got accept stuff like this in our and their society, and essentially there's no point in blaming anyone for it, because we are all guilty of trying to aim for some ideal of beauty or fashion in one way or another at least at some point in our lives.
Sorry for the bumbling sort of rant i had there. I have mixed feelings on this subject.
What do you think about this whole thing?
The 40-second advertisement from India starts like so many others promoting razors or hair dye - but it's an ad with a very big difference.
There's a man who has no luck with the girls. He has markedly darker skin than his friends and the girl he is after. In a real song-and-dance Bollywood extravaganza, one of the biggest heart throbs of Indian cinema, Shahrukh Khan, hands over a cream to the hapless chap, along with some mild admonishment.
Within a few weeks, the young man has turned much lighter-skinned and confident. As he strides down the road like a modern-day answer to John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, the girls start flocking to him and chanting: "Hi handsome, hi handsome." Khan comes back into view with the product, Fair and Handsome.";
Full story;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7010885.stm?lsm
I don't see what the big deal is about all of this "immoral" pale beauty hype- personally i see it as no different than people advertising tanning creams and sprays over here in my country (England), or hair straightening products aimed at black african people.
So what if people are trying to aim for a body image that most of their population isn't naturally blessed with, the fact of the matter is that this has been going on for hundreds, even thousands of years, in so many other countries, way before they even became aware of other cultures where the "look" these people aim for is already naturally common place in another race. You just can't do anything to change stuff like this...because it is just something we tend to do an aweful lot as human beings.
Beauty is cruel. Beauty is not politically correct, kind and caring, and it often isn't even morally correct/ethical etc.
Hmm....
The thing is though, is that i just see this as another one of those stupid racism/politically correct issues that misses a lot of important details.
When tanning products are advertised at white people in a similar manner as to what this skin whitening product was advertised at indian people, people don't blink an eye at this sort of stuff.
But when skin whitening products are advertised at indian people, noooo, people reel back in shock and horror, concluding that it must be something to do with the British Asian culture, and that white people have just got to back off and stop influencing other people's cultures and values with our evil ideals of beauty etc.
They don't/never whole heartedly admit that this has nothing to do with the "British Asian culture" and that this sort of thing has been going on in India for thousands of years, like it has been in other cultures/countries like Japan, China and Egypt etc.
I disagree that this advert will make the problem of indian people preferring pale skin any worse than it already is, because this sort of advertising has always been there (abeit often in a more suttle form).
It would be an impossible task trying to force young and old indian people to give up their ideals (which they created) of pale skin beauty so they can be fairer to those who have dark tans- it would be like trying to force people to stop idolising a musclely body physique in men so the world could be a nicer place for skinny guys, or trying to force people to stop finding small suttle noses cute in women so all the big hook-nosed women can get a better chance at getting laid etc.
Few of us have a body that our culture in general upholds as perfect or ideal. We all have our flaws...But we still try to follow the whole fashion and beauty world ideal thing, and then complain when we can't follow our ideals in beauty and fashion because are bodies are not perfect.
Its not fair, but this the way it always has been for every generation of human beings that has ever existed.
I'm not saying that the advertising of whitening skin products is a good thing, and i don't think it should be openly encouraged either, but i think people have just got accept stuff like this in our and their society, and essentially there's no point in blaming anyone for it, because we are all guilty of trying to aim for some ideal of beauty or fashion in one way or another at least at some point in our lives.
Sorry for the bumbling sort of rant i had there. I have mixed feelings on this subject.
What do you think about this whole thing?
