In India, pressure to be pale boosts sales of lightening creams for men

In the US, women feel the pressure to be tan, and go to tanning salons and buy tanning creams. But in India, being pale is seen as most desirable - so much, that they’re shelling out big bucks for lightening creams, which are now being marketed to men. I find all of this (the fake baking in the US and the lightening cream in India) to be utterly ridiculous. Following is an article about this in yesterday Washington Post, then be sure to watch the commercial linked below - it’s hilarious!

From In India, Fairness Is a Growth Industry - Men Buy Skin-Lighteners in Growing Numbers as a Path to Love, Wealth:

Fair and Handsome commercial #1 - be pale and get the hot chicks!

Fair and Handsome commercial #2

More commentary from Jezebel.com

So sad…

Light skin is a big deal here in Thailand, too-- I can’t tell you how many whitening creams, etc. are on the supermarket shelves (often made by Oil of Olay or other international companies for the Thai market).

It’s a big enough deal that no matter the heat, when you go out in the bright sun you see people who are COMPLETELY covered up-- long pants, long sleeves (often like long underwear under the regular short-sleeved shirt), sun hats, and even a balaclava to cover up the face…

Light skin has always been a big deal in most parts of Asia. There’s a reason why cosmetic companies produce whitening lines exclusively released in Asian countries.

Yeah, but does it work? Probably not. Ingredients:

Peptide
Liqourice
Vetiver
Aloe Vera

“Peptide complex” is the active ingredient in Olay Regenerist, among other skin creams. Bleaching ability is not a factor in Olay’s current advertising campaign.

And, since I notice that for some reason nobody has mentioned Michael Jackson yet, I will do so.

…Michael Jackson.
:smiley:

Ever get the feeling that we’re all trying to… average out, to a nice café-au-lait colour?

That certainly seems to be the trend for our deities. Didn’t the pope, some ten years ago or so, issue new guidelines about how Jesus should be depicted, making him offically brownhaired and olive skinned?

Maybe we’re moving toward a nice light Krishna blue.

When I was a kid I totally had the hots for Krishna on account of him being blue. Hee hee.

This issue drives me up the wall. Actually, the really hilarious part is that Fair and Lovely is owned by Unilever, the same people who make the Dove “Real Beauty” ads in the United States (at least, as per NYT when they wrote about this issue last year).

I’ll admit that my feelings on this are a bit out of the norm, but I prefer darker skinned Indian men. I think it’s totally hot. My sister and I both seem to go for the darker, swarthy ones.

My boyfriend told me that I was the first Indian girl who ever told him his skin was beautiful, which makes me pretty sad. It’s even worse if you’re a girl. The discrimination, especially for women in the marriage politics game, can be out of control.

Interesting -can you tell us more about this?

a) It’s harder to get married if you’re a dark woman. You’re pretty much considered unattractive no matter how beautiful your facial features + figure. People would rather have a pale piggy looking chick than a sharp-featured girl who is “dusky”. Incidentally, Indians think up the most hysterical terms to describe skin colour. Also, by “you”, I may also mean, “your parents who are picking out your bride for you”.

b) Worse, if you’re still among those that practice dowry, getting a dusky darkie married off generally means an astronomical dowry. Skin colour has been known to be held over a woman’s head when the man’s side demands dowry.

I’ve had some personal experience with this-you are totally fucked if you’re not super light. Sometimes my parents even mentioned it upfront when introducing me to men, like “oh, ps, she’s not super fair”. I don’t want to state what my skin colour is in that self-deflecting way, like “but I’m not even that dark,” or whatever. I like my skin colour whether it’s considered dark or medium or whatever by Indians.

Seriously, I genuinely believe the biggest problem with India is Indians. If I hadn’t fortuitously and accidentally met the sweetest Indian man, I would be dating an American with no regrets.

So this stuff is basically makeup for men? Doesn’t that look kind of odd? At least it isn’t something permanent that bleaches the skin.

It’s not makeup, and it is supposed to bleach the skin. Not sure exactly how though. I think some of the ingredients are supposed to suppress the production of melanin or something.

I tell ya, I’d probably have guys following me if I lived in Asia with how white I am (most ‘lightest shade’ foundations are still too orange on me).

The stuff Indian women use is usually cream bleach that lightens facial hair rather than the skin itself- it’s remarkably effective, though.

As a light-skinned Indian, allow me to echo anu-la’s contempt for the “fair is beautiful” attitude so many Indians observe.

While theoretically I feel everyone should be able to appear as they want, this sort of thing just makes me sad. On the other hand, I like dark women and there’s a little voice in the back of my head saying, “Yay! More of a chance for me!” On the third hand I don’t live in India.

I’m so mixed up.

I read that as baklava…interesting image.

Well, I enjoyed that first ad with Shahrukh Khan in it. What does he need to hawk skin cream for? Isn’t he like a zillionaire by now?

Yeah, I’m going to agree that it’s all pretty horrifying. Also, dark-skinned Indian guys are cute. (Girls too. But see, I’m a straight woman.)

I’m pretty pale, especially the underside of my arms. When I went to Japan, I received numerous compliments on how white I was. To be honest, it was nice for a change, but I can see how there is the opportunity for abuse.

Yes, like HazelNutCoffee said, it does bleach your skin. It is not makeup.

Wow, that is seriously f*cked up. Americans always seem to get the slack for being racist, but this and other stories I’ve heard here on the Dope about other Asians (i.e. Japanese) being blatantly racist against westerners makes me sick!

Huh?

Indians don’t have racist tendencies toward Westerners, they just have a bizarre socially conditioned preference for fair skin.