INDIA,May 11, 2004: The commercial began innocently enough: A pretty young Indian woman, dressed in a fine sari and jewels, meets a prospective suitor and his family. Then came the punch: He turns her down, and her mother offers her a tube of cream called Fair and Lovely. Flash forward to our new, improved heroin. Thanks to Fair and Lovely her skin is now noticeably lighter. She wins her prize–a husband. So went an ad on Sun TV, a Tamil channel broadcast via satellite from Chennai, spreading its message to thousands of Indian families around the world: women with fair skin are prettier and more marriageable, and Unilever’s cream, a great equalizer, would help anyone get that way, says this article by Nandini Ramnath. She is critical of Hindu attitudes toward race. “I shouldn’t have been surprised by the commercial’s blatant racism, since it has long been abundantly clear to me, and obviously to Unilever as well, that Indians place a premium on fair skin,” says Ramnath. “This reaction to skin color has its roots in the caste system and the degree to which it has insinuated itself into Hindu culture-which is, to a large extent, indistinguishable from Indian culture. The caste system can be attributed in part to a verse from the Rig Veda, an ancient Hindu scripture, which describes the creation of the human race from the primal man, Purusha,” she continues.
The controversial article drew several responses including one reader who noted: “Untouchability is not part of Hindu Religion. It is something that emerged in South Asian Society. FYI it is something not unique. The idea that you keep a distance from people who do the most menial tasks is something worldwide.” Another reader pointed out that preference for light skin is found in many cultures of the world. For the full article and reader comments click on “source” above.
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