Source: news.bbc.co.uk
UNITED KINGDOM, March 2010: It is being called “Snow White syndrome” in India, a market where sales of whitening creams are far outstripping those of Coca-Cola and tea. India also has the world’s second most lucrative marriage industry – the first being neighboring China – and demand for fair-complexioned brides and grooms to grace these occasions is as high as ever.
Fueling this demand are the country’s 75-odd reality TV shows where being fair, lovely and handsome means instant stardom. As a result, the Indian whitening cream market is expanding at a rate of nearly 18% a year.
With the Indian middle class expected to increase 10-fold to 583 million people by 2025, it looks as if things will only get better for the cream makers. But there have been questions by medical experts about the effect of these creams on the skin and there are several controversies attached to such products. “If you apply anything on the skin, there will obviously be side effects,” says Rues VK Sharma, head of the dermatology department at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. “Very few know that many of these creams contain steroids. Whatever doctors say will always be a drop in the ocean, as advertisements flooding the market have a far larger impact on the minds of people.”