Case Study Marketing of Fairness Creams and the Question of Ethics

Compiled from various sources by Mahua Adak Mandal

Marketing of Fairness Creams and the Question of Ethics With increase in per capita income and corresponding shift towards Western lifestyle, Indians have begun spending more on personal grooming. The desire to look healthy and beautiful is on the rise. All these factors, coupled with near obsession of the Indians for fair skin, have given an unprecedented impetus to the Indian fairness market in the past few decades. The fairness products (Skin lightening cream) under the brand name 'Fair & Lovely' was developed by Hindustan Unilever Ltd in 1975. The product was then marketed nationally in 1978. According to industry estimates, Fair and Lovely holds 80% market share. In 1988, the brand went international, and is now available in 40 countries. Banking on the opportunity, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) launched Fair & Lovely fairness cream in 1975. With its positioning as the first ever fairness cream targeted at common man, the brand turned out to be a huge success. Challenging HUL’s dominance, CavinKare, a Chennai-based FMCG, introduced Fairever. The product, aimed at middle class consumers, was differentiated on the basis of the ingredients used i.e., Kashmiri saffron and milk used in the preparation. The companies like Hindustan Unilever, Garnier, Nivea, Emami, Paras Pharma and Godrej Sara Lee launch tens of skin care, hair care, bath and shower products, and deodorants for men; a face that has helped Axe, Fair & Handsome and Set Wet grow into Rs. 100-crore brands. Other notable brands included Cavincare Ltd.'s ‘Fairever’, Godrej Group's ‘Fairglow’, Elder Group's ‘Fair One’and Emami Group's ‘Gold Turmeric’ and ‘Naturally Fair’. In addition to this, many global cosmetic brands had also begun offering skin-lightening products in the Indian market. Kolkata-based Emami introduced Fair and Handsome in 2005 after learning that males used Fair & Lovely. Annual sales of Fair and Handsome quadrupled to 1 billion rupees after India’s biggest movie star, Shah Rukh Khan, became its pitchman in 2007. Emami spends 150 million rupees a year on advertisement and endorsement fees. In India, fairness creams dominate the space with over a 45 per cent share, followed by moisturisers at 22 per cent. In the other words skin-lightening products accounted for almost 45 percent of the Indian cosmetics industry. overall cosmetics industry is growing at 15 per cent year-on-year, fairness creams constitute a huge market with sales worth nearly Rs 2,000 crore (Nielsen 2010 figures). Advertisements depicted depressed, dark-complexioned women, who had been ignored by employers and men, suddenly finding new boyfriends and glamorous careers after the cream had lightened their

Compiled from various sources by Mahua Adak Mandal skin. HUL has exploited and reinforced the preference for fair skin, portraying it as a necessary prerequisite for success, and promoted the use of their products as a means of achieving that ideal. Monetary gains have been made notwithstanding the negative impact these products have engendered in terms of social consciousness and strengthening of stereotypes. The outburst began with the All India Women’s Democratic Association (AIDWA) lodging a complaint about HUL’s advertisements to the National Human Rights Commission alleging that their advertisements were demeaning to women. Also, there is no scientific backing for the manufacturer claims that these products enhance fairness preventing darkness of skin or removing blemishes. In human skin, the amount of melanin cannot be reduced by applying fairness cream, bathing with sun blocking soaps or using fairness talcum. But still, the sales keep increasing because of the big Indian market increasing in potential day by day, especially the ignorant lot. This is clearly an issue of utilitarianism where the company showed minimum concern for the customers and was concentrating only on its profits. Ethical issues 

There is no scientific backing for the manufacturers claims that there product enhance fairness prevented darkening of the skin or removed blemishes.



In human skin, the amount of melanin cannot be reduced by applying fairness cream, bathing with sun blocking soaps or using fairness talcum.



Even then the sales of fairness product continued to increase. Here the market is big and the potential is even bigger. So in India beauty seemed to be associated with fairness more than anything else.

The statement given by Dr R.K. Pandhi, who heads the department of dermatology at AIIMS in Delhi said “ no externally applied cream can change the screen colour, indeed the amount of melanin in an individual skin cannot be reduced by applying fairness creams.” although which didn’t effect the Indian consumers.