How The Black Lives Matter Movement Is Making Revolutionary Changes In India
niharika nayakBA (Media & Communication) Experience: 4 yearsNiharika has a passion for all things art, music, and travel and has over 4 years of experience in writing for social media. During her spare time, she likes experimenting in the kitchen, playing vide... more
In the wake of the brutal death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was slowly asphyxiated to death by a white police officer, many people have come forward demanding justice. Mr. Floyd was pushed onto the ground, while an officer knelt on his neck for a little over 8 minutes. Onlookers captured the brutality on video as viewers could hear Mr. Floyd begging for his life. His death sparked outrage across not just the United States, but all around the world. People of various ethnicities and backgrounds came together to fight for the Black Lives Matter movement and push for defunding the police. This entire incident sparked the question of racism against darker skin tones. In India itself, many celebrities were seen supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and many were even called out for their hypocritical nature. Here’s how the Black Lives Matter Movement has impacted our country (1):
No More ‘‘Fair’’ In Lovely
Hindustan Unilever which holds the majority stake in India’s fairness cream market and is known for promoting the fairness cream, “Fair And Lovely”, has now decided to rebrand. The brand “Fair And Lovely” was mainly marketed and sold in South Asian countries like India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and even Indonesia. India was their most popular market. The company said that it wants to drop the word, “Fair” as they want to be a more inclusive brand. One of their biggest competitors, Emami, is also planning to drop the word “Fair” from its range of “Fair And Handsome” creams. While “Fair And Lovely” was targetted towards women, “Fair And Handsome” was marketed towards men (2).
This change follows the protests against system racism in the United States. On being asked about the decision, the chairman of HUL, Sanjiv Mehta, was quoted as saying, “In 2019, we removed the cameo with two faces as well as the shade guides from the packaging of Fair & Lovely, and the brand communication progressed from fairness to glow, which is a more holistic and inclusive measure of healthy skin.”
Another popular brand and competitor of HUL, Johnson and Johnson too has announced that they would be exiting from the fairness cream market. Neutrogena and Clean & Clear products that promoted fairness will soon be out for the good according to the parent company.
Bollywood Celebrities Face The Heat
Celebrities ranging from Disha Patani to Priyanka Chopra, Sonam Kapoor, and many more have been called out online for promoting fairness creams. Disha had expressed her support for George Floyd and The Black Lives Matter Movement on her Twitter feed and was instantly trolled with screenshots from her fairness cream ads. Sonam Kapoor too was called out for promoting a fairness cream by her Aisha co-star, Abhay Deol. In response to Abhay’s post, Sonam had shared an image of his cousin sister Esha Deol promoting a fairness cream and asked for his views toward the same. Abhay casually replied that it is still wrong to promote fairness creams. Sonam later stated that she was glad Abhay pointed out her mistake and stated that she starred in the ad over ten years ago and “didn’t know better” (3).
Priyanka Chopra who had promoted Fairness creams in the past opened up during an interview about how her own family referred to her as “dusky” when she was a child. She stated that her fairer cousins would jokingly call her “Kaali, Kaali”. This is a common derogatory Hindi term used to refer to dark-skinned people. Priyanka spoke about how she endorsed a fairness cream for around a year before quitting as she didn’t feel good about herself. The actor candidly spoke about her own experiences with fairness creams and how she was only 13 years old when she started using them. When asked if she would ever promote fairness creams again, Priyanka said “I have been offered many times, but I said no to them.” Kudos to Priyanka for standing her ground (4).
Shaadi.com Removes Skin Filter
Another brilliant initiative to come out of the BLM movement was a petition filed and addressed by two young Indian-American women, Hetal and Meghan. The women found out that the popular matrimonial website, shaadi.com asks for women to select their skin tone filter when they join. Although the website claimed that the filter doesn’t work, they decided to remove it anyway.
The petition had been shared online by a blogger who goes by the name of Miss Roshni, who brought it to the attention of the website creators. It had garnered around 1,500 signatures in just 14 hours of being shared online! Hetal and Meghan were ecstatic to see the response and believe that although it is a small move, it’s in the right direction (5).
While fairness creams have not been banned altogether, it is refreshing to see that Unilever is ready to rebrand. This will probably spark a huge movement and shift in the skincare industry and we’re hoping that other brands will follow suit as well. Do you think that rebranding is enough or would you want a ban on fairness creams altogether? Let us know in the comment section below.
