“She’s Black; She’s White”

For lack of a better way of introducing this new topic, I have decided to use Michael Jackson as to be my go to person for now. Well, all over Delhi, I have been noticing these advertisements for India today. They are trying to take a progressive view towards changing the mindset of Indians when it comes to traditional values practiced in India. One of the advertisements being a man can also be a cook and be a “Mr. Mom”. But, this one example for some reason made me think a lot about the concept of beauty. The ad states “I am not fair, but I am lovely”. Throughout Asia, having light skin has been the sign of beauty no matter where you go. This is the cultural norm in Korea, Japan, Thailand and even India. I can’t tell you the number of shops I have been in Bangkok trying to find some body lotion which didn’t contain whitening agents (hence the Jackson reference). This phenomenon has also been the part of Indian culture. Mothers have told their daughters to drink tons of milk (to keep fair), stay out of the sun and use products such as “ Fair and Lovely” to ensure that your skin will appear lighter because that is what is considered beautiful. Fair skin also maybe is linked to your economic status because lighter skinned people probably weren’t farmers and tend to lead more posh lives. I personally think is a whole bunch of crap but it is culturally relevant. It’s really ironic that in the western world, people spend thousands of dollars trying to tan, get that healthy golden glow in the sun while in Asia, people spend just about the same amount in a effort to look lighter (since that is considered to be the norm for beauty). Well my friends, this ad even though I can see the progressive elements in it, still maintains the same fact that fairness does matter. I am not sure what the India Today was getting at here with but, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it’s really sad that the underlying tone still remains that you need to be fair in order to be considered beautiful. If they really wanted to say that darker skinned women can be beautiful, the ad should have said “I am not fair and I love it”- that would have made the right statement.