Dark reality of fairness creams

Hyderabad: Remember that ad where Nakul Mehta says, "Kash mein bhi Shah Rukh hota ...(Wish I was Shah Rukh Khan)" and SRK hands him a 'mardon wala (men's) fairness cream' and assures, "Shah Rukh nahi toh kya, handsome koi bhi bann sakta hai ... (What if you are not SRK, anyone can become handsome)?"

This is the story of our Indian cosmetic market which has been promising unrealistic results to the customers for ages. 

The fairness cream industry makes huge money with the Indian's fairness obsession. Some people are lured by catchy taglines, some others fall prey for the smart advertising strategies and the rest use the products because their favorite celebrities endorse them.

These beauty products say that they would make their customers fair in less than 7 days. The irony is they have been in the market for decades and no one has become fair so far. Another aspect of this industry is the celebrities who endorse these products are all light skinned people. Be it Shah Rukh Khan, John Abraham, Arjun Rampal, Dia Mirza, Kareena Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai or Hritik Roshan. Scientific evidence suggests that no cream, no matter which Bollywood A-lister endorses it and however magical it is cracked up to be, can not change one’s skin colour. At best, it can lighten the tan one acquires over time.

When the so-called genuine top notch brands aren't able to deliver the promised results, fake fairness creams are adding up to the pile and these fairness creams not only do no good but also cause a lot of harm to the customers. The Afzalgunj police have recently busted a fake fairness cream racket after raiding stores in Begum Bazar. The fake products were found in several stores.

The police have arrested three persons, Naresh Kumar, Marketing executive, resident of Osman Sahi, Mahendra Kumar, owner of a beauty parlour located at Abdullahmet locality and B Ram, businessman and resident of Feelkhana for selling fake Lakme cosmetic products of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and seized Rs 18,000 worth products. After the accused admitted their role in the manufacture of fake creams, police have registered criminal cases against them.

“During the raids, we found a number of fake products of HUL on their racks. We seized the products and sent them for tests,’’ the Inspector said.

As it is difficult to differentiate between fake and original products, few dealers order for fake products mistaking them for the original ones. The dealers would buy them at low prices and later sell them at high prices.

Experts say that use of these locally manufactured creams would not make you fair but would lead to lot of skin and health issues which causes long term damage.

Strongly objecting fairness creams, ‘Dark is Beautiful’, an online campaign was started by actress Nandita Das which grabbed a lot of attention in 2013. It was a movement against fairness products and the racial premise upon which they thrive. That campaign generated a huge response.

Following this, Kangana Ranaut and Anushka Sharma have refused to endorse fairness products. Kangana on refusing a whooping Rs 2 crore endorsement said that dark is beautiful and Anushka said, "I would not endorse products that propagate racist and sexist (beliefs) and propagate social taboo. I don't want to endorse products that propagate fair skin. I will not propagate anything that says this is right or wrong."

It is high time people stop treating fairness as the ultimate trait for beauty. We must understand that inner beauty is important and the color of one's skin is no parameter for beauty.

By Revalli Sushma Reddy