Unfair & Not-So-Lovely: The Conflicts of Colorism in South Asian Media

If you grew up in a traditional South Asian household, visited your local desi market, or watched your favorite television drama on ZeeTV or StarPlus, chances are you’ve come across the infamous Fair & Lovely products in one way or another.

I remember growing up to the sight of dozens of them lined against the walls of every Indian grocery market I visited. Every time I went to go visit a mela, or cultural festival, there was always at least one table selling the products. Ranging from face creams to face washes, and even SPF products, Fair & Lovely is a skin-lightening cosmetic line from Hindustan Unilever that was released in India back in ’75.

The products dominated in the countries of South Asia, ranging from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and more. Since it’s launch, it’s even landed a spot in various U.S. Asian supermarkets as well. Unilever uses niacinamide, a water soluble vitamin B3 that acts as a skin whitening agent in the product.

Marketing campaigns for these products have experience major backlash, as many of them have been criticized for promoting colorism. Across the board in all campaigns, the message was implying that whiter skin equated to beauty. Similar instances of colorism have been a forefront of India’s media market, including Pond’s White Beauty, a cream product that utilizes Lycopene to achieve skin-whitening effects.

As a South Asian media producer, it puts a knot in my stomach to see these kinds of advertisements portrayed so heavily in my community. When I initially chose to become a media professional, I knew that I would value ethics over all else. It’s incredibly important that as a media producer, we produce media that expresses honesty, preserves integrity, and promotes respect of all beings. Deliberately undermining darker skin tones versus uplifting and glorifying fairer skin tones in media is a direct violation of PRSA’s Code of Ethics, a guide that many media professionals utilize to continue ethical media practices.

In doing my research, I found that Unilever failed to approach the media backlash in an ethical manner. When it comes to PR Crisis over unethical behavior, it’s important for companies to acknowledge all aspects of wrong doing, while ensuring that excuses are not being made for ill-behavior.

Sunny Jain, President Beauty & Personal Care for Unilever explained that “We are fully committed to having a global portfolio of skin care brands that is inclusive and cares for all skin tones, celebrating greater diversity of beauty. We recognise that the use of the words ‘fair’, ‘white’ and ‘light’ suggest a singular ideal of beauty that we don’t think is right, and we want to address this. As we’re evolving the way that we communicate the skin benefits of our products that deliver radiant and even tone skin, it’s also important to change the language we use. Fair & Lovely has never been, and is not, a skin bleaching product. The product is designed to improve skin barrier function, improve skin firmness and smoothen skin texture – all of which help enhance radiance and glow, as currently represented in advertising and communication.”

Although Unilever decided to change the product name from Fair & Lovely to Glow & Lovely, they failed to acknowledge the decades of colorist nationwide propaganda that ran rampage in South Asia. They failed to make right with the victims of these media commercials, who were now biased and anxious of the color of their own skin. Unilever sold the idea in their media campaigns that whiter skin equated to more beauty to hundreds and thousands of brown-skinned individuals–myself included.

Today, I try not to think too hard about those commercials I grew up with. I know that colorism is something that is deeply rooted within South Asian culture, but I also know that there are an increasing number of people who are finally recognizing that there must be change. Media consumption is a global phenomenon, which is why it’s so important for media professionals to strive towards ethically including people of all backgrounds, cultures, and origins.