A fair play!

She is so fair; she is so pretty! This perception of beauty has remained an unarguable truth in our country since time immemorial. The colour white is generally associated with pure, clean and positivity as opposed to black that most people relate to with negativity. And to add to this stone age idea of beauty are the fairness cream advertisements promising to make every Indian woman fair and lovely.

However, in the midst of all the expensive fairness creams cementing the notion 'fair is beautiful', 'Pretty 24', a face cream and skincare brand 'Banjara's' are out there to break this stereotype with their latest advertisement. These TV commercials come as a new ray of hope, shining brightly to tan the idea surrounding white skin colour.

Expressing her support for this changing scenario of Indian beauty market is Swetha Ganesan, a communications professional. She says, "I have always been against the promotion of fairness creams. Darker skin doesn't mean that they are less confident or talented or in this regard, beautiful. It is actually sad that even today, there are many people who head to a cosmetic shop looking for a cream that can change their natural skin colour. I am sure they don't want to do it themselves but this is the kind of pressure they are going through." She further says that the fact that these brands are standing against such stereotypes is a welcome move. She also feels that they can perhaps come up with a full-fledged campaign. "I am happy with the message they are sharing but not that they are promoting their products. Doing it more subtly with more emphasis on the message can be a good idea. Now that people have started talking about it in open, I look forward to seeing a change soon," she adds.

Swetha is of the opinion that people can aspire for a healthy and clean skin rather than a fairer one. In all this, one of the most important roles played is by celebrities who endorse such products. Having a celebrity status, they have a lot of responsibility towards the society. Many people look up to them and want to be like them. Endorsing products like fairness creams, that even they know doesn't work in reality is not 'fair'. Archana Suresh, a freelancer believes that these innovative commercials are refreshing and rejuvenating. Especially, after Asia's beauty market for years have prompted many to have a fair skin.

"These advertisements seem to be a different take on beauty through brands that are not very well known. It is good to see that people are finally waking up from this depressive and backward thinking," opines Archana. Citing a personal example, she says, "There have been times when I am asked how I am so fair since I am a Tamilian. People think they are complimenting me but it is actually very demeaning."

Well, looks like being fair skinned or not still remains to be a relatable topic of conversation in most households. And most of the time we don't even realise the kind of impact it can have on a person, especially a child.

For centuries, we as a country have been prey to these white and black connotations but with groundbreaking advertisements like these, it's time we leave behind these regressive thought process.