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29 March 2024

Skin-whitening FB application beyond the pale?

Skin whitener kicks up controversy of the racial kind. (AFP)

Published
By AFP

Vaseline face-whitening application for Facebook in India has sparked an online controversy and pushed the racially-loaded issue of skin colour into the spotlight once again.

Anglo-Dutch skincare group Vaseline launched the application “Transform Your Face On Facebook” to promote its range of skin-lightening products for men, advertised by Bollywood star Shahid Kapoor.

It enables users to digitally whiten their profile pictures and remove dark spots – an idea that has evoked a largely negative response in the blogosphere since news broke earlier this week.

 “Vaseline’s latest marketing campaign, largely targeted at south Asia but accessible globally, will probably make you uncomfortable,” wrote columnist Alexis Madrigal on the website of US magazine The Atlantic.

“Modern humans’ desire to make their skin darker or lighter is a rather icky reminder of the pigment-o-cracy that exists in many countries.”

Market research group Nielsen estimates the market for skin-lightening cream in India to be worth about $500 million a year. Sales of products for men grew by 25 per cent last year and by 17 per cent for women.

The first cream for women was launched 27 years ago, while the Indian cosmetics group Emami was the first to see potential in the male market in 2005 when it launched Fair and Handsome with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

The matrimonial adverts that appear in Indian newspapers are also a vivid illustration of the cultural preference for paleness. A widely-understood lexicon has been developed to talk about skin tone.

Somebody described as having a “wheaten” complexion is lighter in skin tone than somebody who is “dusky”. It is commonplace to comment on someone who is beautiful and “very fair” in the same breath.

The marketing campaigns for creams by Emami and other foreign brands such as Vaseline, Garnier or L'Oreal clearly push the message that paleness and beauty are synonymous.

Market-leader Emami has run into fierce criticism for its not-so-subtle advertising of Fair & Lovely for women and Fair & Teen for teenagers.

In 2009, a poll of nearly 12,000 people by online dating site Shaadi.com, revealed that skin tone was considered the most important criteria when choosing a partner in three northern Indian states.