Take a moment, think of as many TV ads as you can think of.
Think of brands, think of celebrities, think of the products.
Now think of the ads with children in it, ads where children are the central characters.
Indian ads only.
What do these children look like?
Well groomed, healthy with striking features, beautiful children and all of them fair skinned.
Odd isn't it?
We've come far into the century to treat all skin tones as equal but the fascination for fair skin continues across all Indian media. Our celebrities both men and women are endorsing fairness creams and the message has gone beyond just a concept of beauty and is now marketed as a requirement for success.
In the western world, dark-skinned actors have played pivotal roles in western movies, and they enjoy a social status that is at par with white celebrities. Meanwhile, in India, dark-skinned actors almost always play negative roles or a supporting role and if they're lucky enough they play the 'Indian person' in a Hollywood movie/TV show.
This bias isn't just at the surface but we are barraged to this from almost all media outlets.
- Award shows always have fair skinned backup dancers, a majority of them women
- Online shopping portals always have fair skinned models
- Children's cartoons blatantly ridicule the dark person
A quick note on Geography, cultural pockets and connect:
Every ad campaign ultimately looks to get good reach and connect with the consumer. Brands that connect with consumers have a much higher positive response. Coming to the geography bit now, India is a subcontinent due to its diverse geography
The problem starts at the grass-roots level, we are allowing the media to let children and even parents believe that a fair skin tone is the identity of beauty and success. Children see it in Indian cartoons and movies while adults are exposed to subliminal messages through advertising.
Gini & Jony: India's leading kids wear brand features only white children in all their marketing campaigns. This is an Indian brand, selling clothes in the Indian market to primarily Indian children. For a brand that has been in existence since 1980 its high time, it breaks away from this early 90's concept of teasing Indian consumers with a taste of western lifestyle.
This same ideology is followed by many other Indian brands like Monte Carlo, Allen Solly, Spykar, Peter England, Louis Philippe and many more sub-brands of the Raymond group.
So what's the point of all this?
The inclusion of everyone, India is a country with the widest mix of everything from religion to cultures and skin tones. Our concepts of beauty have to be redefined and a start has to be made somewhere. International brands feature models of all ethnicity but local brands need to stop having marketing campaigns that feature white skin models.
When beauty is not the requirement and skill comes into play in industries like sports and business, irrespective of their achievements athletes with dark skin will get little to almost no media coverage and are seen as not marketable personalities. There are a few exceptions to this attitude but that is limited to cricket. Persons like M.S.Dhoni cannot be ignored by brands because of his remarkable achievements and legion of fans but even with those illustrious credentials, he is only favoured by brands related to sports or male-dominated markets like petroleum and automobiles. Virat Kohli, on the other hand, is preferred for fashion, automobiles, and FMCG brands. Athletes from sports like wrestling, hockey, badminton, tennis, and other athletics are conveniently ignored even though they put in just as much hard work as cricketers with a fraction of facilities and funding.
We live in a world where we see everything through a filter of beautification, starting from our phone cameras to pictures we upload on social media. How long will brands keep up this masquerade of false standards of beauty? While a few Indian boutique brands like AND, Sabyasachi do feature dark-skinned models, it looks like we would have to wait another decade for brands to be more accepting and cater to the audience with more region-specific marketing.
Will brands start making changes to incorporate all skin tones? The question goes out to all the big name Indian brands, online shopping portals, casting agencies, ad filmmakers and all those who are involved in mass communication.
There is a problem here and are you willing to address it?
Think of brands, think of celebrities, think of the products.
Now think of the ads with children in it, ads where children are the central characters.
Indian ads only.
What do these children look like?
Well groomed, healthy with striking features, beautiful children and all of them fair skinned.
Odd isn't it?
We've come far into the century to treat all skin tones as equal but the fascination for fair skin continues across all Indian media. Our celebrities both men and women are endorsing fairness creams and the message has gone beyond just a concept of beauty and is now marketed as a requirement for success.
In the western world, dark-skinned actors have played pivotal roles in western movies, and they enjoy a social status that is at par with white celebrities. Meanwhile, in India, dark-skinned actors almost always play negative roles or a supporting role and if they're lucky enough they play the 'Indian person' in a Hollywood movie/TV show.
This bias isn't just at the surface but we are barraged to this from almost all media outlets.
- Award shows always have fair skinned backup dancers, a majority of them women
- Online shopping portals always have fair skinned models
- Children's cartoons blatantly ridicule the dark person
A quick note on Geography, cultural pockets and connect:
Every ad campaign ultimately looks to get good reach and connect with the consumer. Brands that connect with consumers have a much higher positive response. Coming to the geography bit now, India is a subcontinent due to its diverse geography
The problem starts at the grass-roots level, we are allowing the media to let children and even parents believe that a fair skin tone is the identity of beauty and success. Children see it in Indian cartoons and movies while adults are exposed to subliminal messages through advertising.
Gini & Jony: India's leading kids wear brand features only white children in all their marketing campaigns. This is an Indian brand, selling clothes in the Indian market to primarily Indian children. For a brand that has been in existence since 1980 its high time, it breaks away from this early 90's concept of teasing Indian consumers with a taste of western lifestyle.
This same ideology is followed by many other Indian brands like Monte Carlo, Allen Solly, Spykar, Peter England, Louis Philippe and many more sub-brands of the Raymond group.
So what's the point of all this?
The inclusion of everyone, India is a country with the widest mix of everything from religion to cultures and skin tones. Our concepts of beauty have to be redefined and a start has to be made somewhere. International brands feature models of all ethnicity but local brands need to stop having marketing campaigns that feature white skin models.
When beauty is not the requirement and skill comes into play in industries like sports and business, irrespective of their achievements athletes with dark skin will get little to almost no media coverage and are seen as not marketable personalities. There are a few exceptions to this attitude but that is limited to cricket. Persons like M.S.Dhoni cannot be ignored by brands because of his remarkable achievements and legion of fans but even with those illustrious credentials, he is only favoured by brands related to sports or male-dominated markets like petroleum and automobiles. Virat Kohli, on the other hand, is preferred for fashion, automobiles, and FMCG brands. Athletes from sports like wrestling, hockey, badminton, tennis, and other athletics are conveniently ignored even though they put in just as much hard work as cricketers with a fraction of facilities and funding.
- Will advertisers feature our dark-skinned Olympians?
- Will Bollywood movies have a dark-skinned woman in the lead role?
- Will Indian kids fashion brands feature Indian models on their websites?
We live in a world where we see everything through a filter of beautification, starting from our phone cameras to pictures we upload on social media. How long will brands keep up this masquerade of false standards of beauty? While a few Indian boutique brands like AND, Sabyasachi do feature dark-skinned models, it looks like we would have to wait another decade for brands to be more accepting and cater to the audience with more region-specific marketing.
Will brands start making changes to incorporate all skin tones? The question goes out to all the big name Indian brands, online shopping portals, casting agencies, ad filmmakers and all those who are involved in mass communication.
There is a problem here and are you willing to address it?
Great tips and very easy to understand. This will definitely be very useful for me when I get a chance to start my blog 500-651 exam study guide.
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