[WSMDiscuss] Nandita Das : ‘Fair & Lovely’ name change may seem superficial - but it’s a step in the right direction

[Jai Sen]

Saturday, June 27, 2020

Viruses in movement…, Racism in movement…, Ideas in movement…, India in movement…

[The idea of racism, and of discrimination by colour, is on fire…  Here’s an article from India about what on the surface seems superficial – about a major industrial company repackaging one of its big sellers, a supposed ‘skin-colour-lightening’ product, to be more fair (isn’t it interesting how in the language of hyper colonialism that is English, and that has gone viral across the world and infected all our minds, the word ‘fair’ connotes not just lightness and whiteness but also justice and sensitivity ?) – but which the author argues could be a useful step forward in the struggle against the rampant and systemic racial (and caste, ethnic, you name it) prejudices that are endemic to India, and especially to Hinduism, by opening up and widening the debate.

[Just in case you don’t know this, the author Nandita Das is a quite popular Indian actor and director, who is also an ‘activist’ in her own right (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandita_Das <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandita_Das>).  Please excuse the size of the photograph of her in this post, but that’s what came with the article in the original (and I don’t have the skills to reduce the size !) – but where in the Indian context, I suspect it was perhaps even deliberately created at this scale to let her own radiant skin colour speak for itself – and indeed, as she herself explains :

My deeper involvement with colour bias started in 2013, when a Chennai-based organisation approached me to support their campaign, Dark is Beautiful. I knew for long that the impact of colour bias is far-reaching and insidious, but when many started to share their stories with me, it made me realise even more how deeply it affects the sense of self-worth and confidence. By default, I became the face of the campaign. Probably because most actors were becoming lighter with every film.

In India (and perhaps also more widely, across the ‘Indian Subcontinent’ and elsewhere ?) :

Nandita Das : ‘Fair & Lovely’ name change may seem superficial - but it’s a step in the right direction

At the very least, it will lead to an even wider debate about colour bias : Dark is Beautiful !

Nandita Das

https://scroll.in/article/965760/nandita-das-fair-lovely-name-change-may-seem-superficial-but-its-a-step-in-the-right-direction <https://scroll.in/article/965760/nandita-das-fair-lovely-name-change-may-seem-superficial-but-its-a-step-in-the-right-direction>





As the Covid-19 surge occupies much of the news, there are also various social schisms that are vying for attention. The big one of this week was Thursday’s announcement by Hindustan Unilever <https://www.unilever.com/news/press-releases/2020/unilever-evolves-skin-care-portfolio-to-embrace-a-more-inclusive-vision-of-beauty.html> that they will remove the words “fairness”, “whitening” and “lightening” from their line of products, and even remove the word Fair from their very popular Fair & Lovely brand.

While the move may be more symbolic, as there is no mention of discontinuing the product, just the change in messaging is still a big step forward. In India, many brands spend hundreds of crores of rupees to spread the deeply problematic message of fair being lovely, in a largely dark country. So, when the market leader changes track, it needs to be welcomed. At the very least, it will lead to an even wider debate.

The public discourse around the significance of the move has already thrown up a lot of issues. Sceptics have pointed out that it only denotes more political correctness. The marketing of fairness products will simply be less obvious, making it more difficult to call them out. Also on Thursday, Johnson & Johnson announced that it would stop its line of skin whitening products. In addition,they will add more shades to their Band-Aids outside of the current “skin colour”. Whose skin are we talking about anyway?

Many find it odd that skin lightening products are being termed as skin-care products, which they are not. But it’s quite lovely when a billion-dollar “whitening” industry, fuelled by a culture that primarily defines beauty by the colour of the skin, wants to be fair.

Colourist stereotypes

Maybe soon the cosmetic industry too will acknowledge that often such products and imageries feed racist and colourist stereotypes. Though it is worth reminding ourselves that the companies that sell products are not the root cause for this discrimination. They are only using the age-old prejudice to sell more creams and fancy dreams to entice more customers. We, the public, need to solve the problem of the obsession with fair skin that most of us carry.

While it is important that corporations show some responsibility towards social problems, it is fundamentally not an issue in which we should expect them to be ahead of public opinion. It will always be the other way round.



Credit: Sajjad Hussain/ AFP

But there are good reasons to take this moment seriously. The dominoes that probably led to the fall of “fair and lovely” started with the global rise of the Black Lives Matter campaign. It is important to remember that the movement itself tipped over into a wider social response only after the undeniably racist killing of George Floyd in front of the whole world.

It was only a few years ago that the #BlackLivesMatter had received little attention by many moderates and even less by the corporate world. George Floyd’s murder and protests changed all that with several major global corporations officially acknowledging and actively making significant amends in their own companies.

The shift in public opinion made the hypocrisy of a fairness marketing campaign in India, untenable for a global corporation. And while it may seem a superficial move, it does reflect something important.

Insidious impact

My deeper involvement with colour bias started in 2013, when a Chennai-based organisation approached me to support their campaign, Dark is Beautiful. I knew for long that the impact of colour bias is far-reaching and insidious, but when many started to share their stories with me, it made me realise even more how deeply it affects the sense of self-worth and confidence. By default, I became the face of the campaign. Probably because most actors were becoming lighter with every film.

The campaign went viral and brought attention to this prejudice which had been normalised over the years. Last year I renamed it, for its tenth anniversary, and called it India’s Got Colour, to make it more inclusive and to celebrate diversity. 

Having been on this journey for long, I know how difficult and slow change is. But the needle is moving and so on our part, we have to ensure it moves fast and in the right direction.


____________________________

Jai Sen

Independent researcher, editor; Senior Fellow at the School of International Development and Globalisation Studies at the University of Ottawa

jai.sen at cacim.net <mailto:jai.sen at cacim.net>
Now based in New Delhi, India (+91-98189 11325) and in Ottawa, Canada, on unceded and unsurrendered Anishinaabe territory (+1-613-282 2900) 

CURRENT / RECENT publications :

Jai Sen, ed, 2018a – The Movements of Movements, Part 2 : Rethinking Our Dance. Ebook and hard copy available at PM Press <http://www.pmpress.org/>
Jai Sen, ed, 2018b – The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us Move ? (Indian edition). New Delhi : AuthorsUpfront, in collaboration with OpenWord and PM Press.  Hard copy available at MOM1AmazonIN <https://www.amazon.in/dp/9387280101/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1522884070&sr=8-2&keywords=movements+of+movements+jai+sen>, MOM1Flipkart <https://www.flipkart.com/the-movements-of-movements/p/itmf3zg7h79ecpgj?pid=9789387280106&lid=LSTBOK9789387280106NBA1CH&marketplace=FLIPKART&srno=s_1_1&otracker=search&fm=SEARCH&iid=ff35b702-e6a8-4423-b014-16c84f6f0092.9789387280106.SEARCH&ppt=Search%20Page>, and MOM1AUpFront <http://www.authorsupfront.com/movements.htm>
Jai Sen, ed, 2017 – The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us Move ?.  New Delhi : OpenWord and Oakland, CA : PM Press.  Ebook and hard copy available at PM Press <http://www.pmpress.org/>
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