🇮🇳 India: A whiter shade of pale | 101 East - भारत: पीला रंग की एक सफेद छाया

everybody like get one chance everybody doctor the fair people get the chance earlier than the doctor why do Indians desire fair-skinned is it a sign of racism it has to do with colonialism it has to do with you know the aliens coming to India and taking over the subcontinent it has to do with you know caste relationships of pawn is it a legacy from history why does the woman use a lipstick makes it look more attractive makes her feel confident and makes her feel good about herself if a fairness cream makes you feel better there is no harm I think or is it simply a concept of beauty a slew of factors drive the obsession for fair skin in India its booming skin whitening industry as long capitalized a woman's desire to be fair in recent times even men are spending big to lose a few shades of tan I'm Fozzie ah Abraham on this edition of one on one we asked can there be fairness in India without the fair skin chang pao-chai reports India a nation of more than 1 billion people with a rich variety of culture and tradition but many people across the country and one thing in common the desire for fair skin it's a value that the mass media promotes widely perpetuating the idea that fair is lovely in Bollywood films that pull in the crowds female stars almost always had fair skin evened up the parts of this country like South again their use they prefer the failure as a man better the doctor you are in an area that you live in the fairer that aspiration has created a massive market for skin whitening creams in India from single sachets worth 10 cents to expensive jars costing more than $100 each oh do which are here 9x skin whitening cream advertisements fill the airwaves promoting fair skin as beautiful the Fraggle is desirable she attracts attention and envy and belief every dark-skinned go is fast game waiting to be unveiled but increasingly ads like these raise the question are they unfair and ugly I think it marginalizes other forms of appearance a women who are not fair for instance are made to feel inferior it begins to govern you know the way people look at themselves someone who's dark in this society might find it difficult to do have a positive self-image top model Angela Singh bias is dark skin or dusky as they say in India her career has taken off internationally but in a home country she still overlooked by some advertisers the reason dusky women are seen as sexy and sensual so they think her skin tone doesn't protect the right wholesome image and when angela was offered an endorsement deal for a skin whitening product she made a stand and turn down the money I didn't think I was sending out the right message to especially younger children that there is a certain construct or certain colour that's better than others I just I personally didn't want to endorse that you can sit there and really be angry at this whole dusky versus fair or that's just not the look they're looking for and that's it that's part and parcel of the industry it's true that tell about they recently you know dark-skinned women didn't make the cover of many magazines there is a gradual shift it will like probably take years before the the mainstream people on the conventional thinking changes to connect with the masses advertisements need to have broader pool a lot Kaka a leading ad director and social commentator refuses to produce any whitening cream ads and he says he doesn't cast talent based on their skin tone but at the end of the day a lot still has to give the clients what they pay for that's the gladness all my clients will specify that that she should be fair but you might actually pick somebody much darker than her because she turns you on you you shoot them and then you treat them and then you also do a makeup which is a couple of shades lighter than what they actually are for three decades fair and lovely manufactured by Hindustan Unilever has been the leading women's fairness cream in India the company's advertising showed dejected women with dark skins snapped by men or employers but after using the cream they find love or glamorous jobs [Music] because estimate nearly two-thirds of Indian women apply skin lightening creams daily together they are sure that you know there is a actually this fair fairness in that is trapped inside you and you need the famous cream to sort of he love all the layers and to release this little new fairview kind of play on a lot of anxiety is that women have about you know their complexions insidious or not it's a message that cells in their skin lightening cream market is booming growing almost 18 percent a year market research group AC news and estimates that growth this year will hit twenty five percent with Indian consumers spending almost half a billion dollars on products and services to make themselves fairer surveys show they do not just attract female customers more and more men use fairness feeds as well the mens are more inquisitive to know what what is better than them then the women's as i see nobody's name they want to know which is the best for them and they don't see the cost [Music] in 2005 the Indian cosmetic company Emami launched in fair intentions to target the male market it engaged Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan - endorsing sales figure skyrocketing going 45 percent each year and Amami became the market leader in men's fan a squeeze but it also brought about a renewed wave of controversy Emami fair and handsome duniya key number one fairness cream for men - screams is a part of you know that in entire package so today both for men and women increasingly looking a particular way or behaving a particular way or owning something is tied up with the idea of being a worthwhile human being but Amami director mohan Goenka disagrees it's all about meeting the needs of the consumers there's no racism why does anyone want to get tanned in Europe entire Southeast Asia go to China you go to Malaysia Indonesia Thailand or Korea it's all whitening creams so if you feel nicer some people in India also want to get tanned so what do you say that you know you can create controversy out of anything alongside Shahrukh Khan if mommy also hired actor nothing Mehta twice parent and sub team as he says although he doesn't use fairness creams himself actors in such ads get an unnecessary beating from critics at the end of the day and actors also someone who is you know earning his bread and butter and he goes out in those things which of course must believe in Amami fare enhancer but just because a Shahrukh Khan says they buy a fairness cream that doesn't mean we should get morality involved very much professor Bob mega be supplement at times in Michaels career being fair has even worked against him trolls do get limited because you know just because I'm fair I the first thing you would be thought of is in a romantic film but as an actor I want to sort of expand you know myself and not just play that I want to play stuff which is an edgy guy someone who's who has grey shield this indie experimental film allowed Nicole to do exactly that but it doesn't expect the change to come anytime soon in India's mainstream film industry all the negative roles will go to someone who looks slightly darker slightly edgier which I personally don't agree with but that's how our industry functions it comes from the society as a society I think you know we all love the fair skin and that's apparent in how it is common to see Bollywood dance sets where the Indian hero is complemented by a bevy of seductive white women the media draws on what is already there in society in terms of what people are Speyer for in terms of beauty and fairness but it certainly amplifies that it's not going to go away and I certainly don't think that you know either banning Fame fairness creams or trying to regulate ads is going to do a great deal to change things I think where we need to change things is to create debate and discussion in society the debate continues after the break we'll look at how a fair skinned Indian girl is determined to get even fairer I know I am look into the mirror I think we visit a beauty parlor in South Asia's biggest slum 90% of my customers are here for skin whitening these days people want to be fair even if they are poor and we'll look at how skin whitening works and some of the hidden dangers [Music] the desire for fair skin in India is said to go a long way back in history the age-old caste system created a hierarchy of social classes Peskin was associated with Brahmins and aristocracy people who didn't do menial labour doing menial labour meant when going to the fields and so getting your skins dark so it's one of those things that have been part of Indian society for hundreds of years on top of that Britain also influenced the subcontinent on many levels for more than 300 years from trade in the early 17th century so nearly a hundred years of colonial rule that ended in 1947 many people believe social perceptions from those days remain perhaps the most obvious equating Peskin with success power and all things desirable in there has been invaded by a series of races and tribes that were fairer than the inhabitants the original inhabitants of this country and the last Locke were the British who are the fairest of them all so the Vanquish want to be like the victors and the most of this difference between the vanquished and the victors is actually their color the very construct of beauty has to do with relationships of power I mean probably if you know Africa had colonized the world then you know dark would have been beautiful rather than fair would have been beautiful right from the time that a baby is born the first question that you know the family will ask is is it fair or does the impact of such values can be seen at st. Catherine of Siena orphanage and schools in Mumbai many of these children used to roam the streets homeless hungry and abused but even at this age and edit problem for some of them is being darker than the others beneath the fun and games it's not all fair played the school counselors and teachers tell us they are very concerned about the complaints of discrimination made by children who have darker skin tones there is a certain amount of population or of children who would be teasing other children as calling them black they would call him Carla which is very derogatory for that child and then the kids find it difficult to adjust with other children it does have a very or negative consequences though at a behavioral level emotional level psychological level child feel very depressed at the same time child though it does affect the child's self-esteem and those values are passed on through generations such values are evident sorry calm one of the world's largest online matrimonial services it has 20 million registered users 3/4 of them Indian many profiles indicate a preference for spouses with fair-skinned men typically indicates they're looking for someone that that's fair and that could be almost as high as 60% women are much more liberal in who they are looking to marry they indicate much much higher degrees of interest in people that are compatible with them common interests people who they can share their life with the real percentage of people looking for fair-skinned spouses could be higher the users of shaadi.com are mostly in urban areas where there is internet penetration shaadi.com newspapers reach out to greater numbers across India and the matrimonial pages are full of ads using one's fair skin as a selling point obviously you have to look good you have to look there if the girlfriend looks bad people are going to say Oh whom are you dating this chick you know it's that face VP Kalani considered a fair Indian by most standards wants to be even fairer she is about to further her studies in London and things Baskin will help her fit in it's important to look good because people over there are very fair you know I have to stand in that crowd I don't want to be like you know neglected or something I feel I'm dark like many people have told me I am NOT this is proper Indian color but then I feel no I have I've become darker you know what gradually by traveling and going out in the Sun and not taking proper care we joined Deepti on a visit to a dermatologist for consultation on skin whitening treatments there is no medical condition responsible for this extract color theory over the world so my interpretation is that you only have a bit of tanning of skin yeah dr. Susheela eonni recommends that Deepti use creams to return to our original shade and maintain it by applying sunblock he says it's not just sun exposure that darkens complexion it also happens when skin is sensitive to certain types of medicine cosmetics and fragrances along with creams dr. socials clinic offers three other ways of skin lightening microdermabrasion also known as skin polishing chemical peels and laser toning but he warns there are hidden dangers when practitioners are not properly trained you could land up getting darker than normal color or you could end up losing all your color you could also see some cases where you see some secondary infection happening and patient getting first boils I have seen cases where people have come with scarring on the skin and those cars are permanent so this is a result of over-enthusiastic peels or peels which are done by people who are not properly qualified or using products which are made locally with not very good quality control quality control is something in Maumee the makers of fair and handsome insist is a priority more or less they are tested before they are launched and on a large scale so on on all skin types these screams look that's how they come to the market but there are always sensitive scales you know so maybe some ingredient may react on someone but that doesn't mean that the creams have side effects Emami vert enhancer just may have skin whitening creams are said to work by suppressing the production of melanin the pigment responsible for dark color in the skin their ingredients include vitamins and sunscreen if you expose to sign not some ultraviolet rays these ingredients basically disperse those melanin and you look whiter there are no properly formulated studies to prove that they're effective probably they're working on human minds weakness to look fairer and to have even returned smooth fair-skinned and despite what the TV commercials show the public is reminded to be realistic maximum these fairness creams can get you to your original color so how you were born it's not just the richest city dwellers were spending money to make themselves fairer even in slum areas like this can many beauty parlors tucked away in nooks and crannies offering skin whitening services curavi in Mumbai is the largest slum in South Asia here quality control for skin whitening creams involves a simple test I have four or five skin whitening products I test them on myself my daughter and my friends to ensure they're fine I don't use new products and customers because this is my business I have to be careful sir Raja xalapa has been operating in CeraVe for 25 years many women here are prepared to put aside five dollars a month for a skin whitening facial locals say there are more than 100 such beauty parlors in the area Sarada claims her reputation is up there among the best she sees some twenty customers a day and has never received any complaints about the products a lot of the palace where things go wrong there's no point naming and shaming them all the gang it will make hooter my if something goes wrong with my product morale I don't want them to back in places like Torabi it is perhaps harder to regulate the types of creams used the main concern is some of them may contain excessive doses of bleaching chemicals that destroy pigment producing cells causing the skin to lose its color to fix this problems number of times sometimes we are successful sometimes it'll take help of surgical methods to cover those white patches in India today there is a growing consciousness that the obsession for fair-skinned is anything but fair but it's a value entrenched in history and any change in so far is only skin deep it is not a mass consciousness everyone is supposed to package themselves you know to look desirable smell desirable to to conform to you know ideas of beauty of success and and I think you know this is a very important way through which you know power is exercised over all a personal some say it is the power of the mass media through pop culture and advertising others say the media merely reflects what people desire in the first place it's dark skin I I do feel like India has a colonial hangover so a part of it is racial overtones but my biggest concern is the message is sending younger children we are not yet fully developed Omega it's sort of well educated decision with the skin colour divided bad versus goodness it's no pun but it's not that black in one you

Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 503,469

Rating: 4.6003089 out of 5

Keywords: India white skin, skin bleaching in india, skin bleaching india, india skin-whitening, india skin whitening, fair skin india, indian skin whitening, skin whitening india, भारत सफेद त्वचा, India, fair skin, indian skin whitening products, india skin whitening ad, skin whitening treatment india, 101east, india skin whitening market booming, त्वचा whitening भारत, 101 East, skin bleaching, aljazeera, indian skin whitening soap, India cosmetics, skin whitening cream

Id: whkIW3vNltQ

Length: 21min 55sec (1315 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 02 2010

Reddit Comments

[u/adaminc]

I have always wondered why someone can't just invent a tanning, or I guess in this case, "detanning" pill. I mean, isn't tanning just an increase in melanin production by melanocytes in your skin? So couldn't you just create a pill that excite melanocytes to produce more, or not produce, melanin?

[u/volume909]

This won't change unless there's a wide revolution encompassing the whole of society. The definition of beauty requires a perception change. This is sort of similiar to the projection of black women and men on American magazines. Most "black" models have a closer resemblance to Caucasian face feautures. This is probably a reflection of society since they make up most of the population of America.

[u/[deleted]]

HA! And they downvoted this my comment http://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/d7ega/i_think_ive_seen_this_in_die_hard_4_but_this_is/c0y5o0l

[u/[deleted]]

This looks interesting, can't wait to watch it when I get home.

[u/saintmuse]

The insulting way in which the products are advertised is very interesting. There are many products in America used to lighten skin, but you don't really see this type of advertising in regards to skin color.

[u/[deleted]]

What does the Indian culture think about their woman marrying white men? If they think fairer is better, can a white guy go and clean up there? Indian girls are way too hot, and if they can cook too, game over.

[u/toxicbrew]

Seriously, fuck everything about this obsession with fair skin in India. People will be racist against others in their own extended family for being 'dark.' I had one of my cousins there call me 'blackie.' And when people talk about others, such as someone getting married, they always talk about how 'fair' someone is. Fuck all that with a bat.