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A Billion-Strong Colorist Nation & the Billion-Dollar “Fair Skin” Industry
Did Unilever shape the “light skin fetish” or simply exploit it?
Unilever — one of the global consumer giants recently rebranded one of its flagship Indian products — a skin-lightening cream that has been a household name for decades.
The cream called “Fair & Lovely” was rebranded to “Glow & Lovely” after persistent criticism for promoting harmful society standards and preference for light skin.
To understand India’s obsession with fair skin — you must first understand the extent of it and how deep-rooted and harmful this obsession is.
India is a more colorist nation than America or any other part of the world is racist.
Fair, slim and beautiful girl wanted for…
When I was growing up and becoming aware of societal preferences, and starting to form opinions of my own, I was in my mid to late teens back in the 90’s and early 2000’s. My sister and I would grab the weekend classifieds newspaper and laugh at and be astonished by the demands Indian men and their families had for their prospective brides.