THE OBSSESSION WITH FAIRNESS CREAMS: -

HOW COLORISM PERVADES INDIA.

By
Dr. A. R. Shenoy & Dr. V. R. Shenoy

GENESIS OF COLORISM IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT
Colorism is a term coined by Alice Walker, the American author and activist in
1982 (1). It differs from racism. In colorism, skin color dictates your social status.
The fascination with fairness in India from a civilization standpoint was a non-
issue in ancient and early medieval India. The works of many travelers from China,
Greece, Persia and Arab lands to India during this period do not mention any issue
related to colorism. Sanjeev Sanyal (2) puts it so succinctly, thus:-
So what did all these people and their world really look like? Despite the long
passage of time, we have carvings and paintings that give us a visual insight into
this world in the Ajanta and Ellora caves in Maharashtra. These were constructed
under the rule of the Vakatakas, close allies of the Guptas. The paintings are
obviously stylized but they give us a sense of what Indians of this period idealized.
One of the things that strikes me is that most of the people in the paintings are very
dark-skinned. It appears that ancient Indians had a preference for dark skin. This
is supported by a lot of other evidence. For instance, the epitome of male
handsomeness in the Hindu tradition is Krishna who is clearly dark. His name
literally means The Dark One (his depiction as blue-skinned is merely a
medieval artistic innovation). Similarly, the beautiful Draupadi, the common wife
of the Pandava brothers in the Mahabharata, is also described as being very dark.
This preference for dark skin appears to have survived well into the medieval
period. Indeed, Marco Polo specifically mentions this in his comments about India:
For I assure you that the darkest man is here the most highly esteemed and
considered better than others who are not so dark. Let me add that in very truth
these people portray and depict their gods and their idols black and their devils
white as snow. One only needs to look at the idol of Lord Jagannath in Puri to see
what Polo meant.
The paintings from Ajanta serve as a case in point to demonstrate the absence of
colorism in India of those times. Reproduced from Wikipedia (3) below is an
Ajanta fresco depicting King Mahajanaka, having heard the wise words of the
sage returned to the palace, decides to renounce the worldly life. Here, he is
announcing his decision in the palace, his mother standing behind him.
Mahajanaka jataka, cave 1, north wall. Ajanta, VIth or VIIth century. :-

It is broadly understood that colorism in India was due to the dominance of Turkic
Islamic invaders, the Mughals and later the British over large swaths of culturally
significant territories of India for a sufficient period of time to influence the local
population with their prejudices and thus the general direction where our
civilizational sensibilities went. According to Lane-Poole (4), at one point of time
during the Mughal rule, the term Mughals meant any Indian Muslim with a fair
complexion, and implied very little Mughal blood. In short, colorism endowed the
fair Muslim with a remarkable social advantage in Mughal India.
As Sanyal (2) says Just five generations ago, Europeans considered pale white
skin so attractive that Victorian women were willing to risk poisoning by using an
arsenic-based compound to whiten their skin.
Afanasiy Nikitin, a Russian Merchant traveled to India during 1466-1472, a period
when the Lodis occupied the Delhi Sultanate; his journey lasting six years is well
documented in his travelogue titled Khozheniye za tri moray (The J ourney
Beyond Three Seas) (5). By this time colorism had percolated deep among the
populace and Nikitin is also a witness to it, he mentions this in travelogue, thus: -
In the land of India it is the custom for foreign traders to stop at inns; there the
food is cooked for the guests by the landlady, who also makes the bed and sleeps
with the stranger. Women that know you willingly concede their favours, for they
like white men.
The seaports of Cheen and Machin are also large. Porcelain is made there, and
sold by the weight and at a low price. Women sleep with their husbands in the day,
but at night they go to the foreign men and sleep with them and pay for it, besides
waiting on them with sweetmeats and supplying them with food and drink, that the
foreigners may love them, because they like strangers and white people, their own
men being so very black. And when a woman conceives a child by a stranger, the
husband pays him a salary. If the child is born white, the stranger receives a duty
of eighteen tenkas; if it is born black he gets nothing, but is welcome to what he
ate and drank.
The painting shown here is a portrait of a woman visiting
a shrine and it was one of the works on display in
Princes and Painters in Mughal Delhi, 1707-1857 at
Asia Society Museum. It is from The Richard J ohnson
Collection, British Library
A point to note in this Mughal era painting is the rarity of
dusky dark colors with which women and men are
prominently portrayed as seen in the Ajanta frescos a
millennium earlier. For more, visit (6), (7), (8)



COLORISM IN POST-INDEPENDENT INDIA
Conditioned by Turkic, Moghul and British Colonial influences the post-
independence Indian still remains conditioned by fixations of colorism. This can be
easily gauged by the nature of advertisements in the matrimonial columns which
demand fair-looking spouses, especially wives. Imani Franklin (9) states in her
thesis: (In 2010, I conducted thirty-three interviews at the AGN School in Tamil
Nadu, India regarding students and teachers perceptions of colorism in their
community. Of 29 student interviewees between the ages of 10-17, only five stated
a preference for darker skin, four of whom identified as dark-skinned. One female
school instructor explained that not only do the children have partiality towards
the fairer students but that even the teachers, even the parents, the neighbors,
they take a special care towards [lighter children]. They pay special attention to
them. Youll be boasting them, youll be praising them.
This complexion-based prejudice between peers and among families can be
psychologically detrimental to children as they form their ideas of self. Playful
childhood taunts lined with painful subtext are just one of many manifestations of
colorism in India.
Brown baby boys are less at risk for infanticide, partly because a dark-skinned
son is not so much of a liability to a middle-class family as a dark-skinned
daughter, for he can easily acquire other socially desirable qualities. In short,
being both female and dark-skinned poses a doubly high financial burden for a
family, and puts one at increased risk of infanticide.)
(1) A storyline of a fair and lovely TVC from 2009 that was broadcast widely
across India on national channels reeked of blatant stereotypical colorism
(10):-
A young dusky Indian woman and her father reticently walk into an allegedly
Modern Beauty Company. The white-complexioned female employee scoffs at the
young woman for her brown skin remarking that even formulations from the time
of vedas cannot relieve her dusky brown looks!! The young girls father returns
home and concocts an ayurvedic fairness cream from all herbal ingredients
kumkumaditailam. After applying the cream and achieving flawlessly white skin,
the woman strides back with renewed confidence into the so called Modern Beauty
Company with poise and is admired by the woman who had previously mocked
her. An alpha white male at the company gasps and gazes intently at her newfound
beauty. She is then shown elatedly getting down a plane and immediately pursued
by paparazzi clamoring to photograph her. The TVC concludes with her proud
father caressing her now-beautiful, white face that has brought the family success
and acclaim.


















THE SCIENCE BEHIND SKIN FAIRNESS
The self-explanatory chart below shows how melanin is biosynthesized.

SKIN PIGMENTATION MECHANISMS (reproduced from Lubrizol fair skin document)

CHEMICALS THAT INFLUENCE SKIN PIGMENTATION
(reproduced from Lubrizol fair skin document)
The most popular active ingredients used in skin whitening formulations in India
(12) are: niacin/niacinamide (70%), licorice extracts (15%), saffron extracts and
other botanicals (15%). Sensory preferences include creams that are based on
stearic acid where high levels of stearic acid (13-16% loading) provide a
soapy/heavy sensory feeling and a pearlized appearance. In India, this platform is
preferred due to a matte finish which is appropriate in a humid/hot climate, it
provides instant physical whiteness, gives the perception of effectiveness and a
good product shelf-stability.

COLORISM AND THE FAIRNESS INDUSTRY A LETHAL SYNERGY
Indias skin lightening industry is today over 200 million dollars; the whitening
facial care segment recorded a 13% growth in 2009 and is the third largest market
behind J apan and China. The facial moisturizers segment dominated by whitening
(84%) in India is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.5%
from 2009 to 2014 (11), (12).
According to C. K. Prahalad, (13) the proponent of the Bottom Of the Pyramid or
BOP theory large private firms can make significant profits by selling to the
poor, and in the process help eradicate poverty(?) C. K. Prahalad reasons that
for big businesses it is absolutely possible to Do Well while Doing Good
(DWDG) (14).
It would come as a surprise to many of us in India to note that Fair & Lovely is
cited as a demonstrative example of doing good by Hammond and Prahalad
(15)! Both Unilever and HLL are often cited in the BOP writings as illustrative
instances of companies doing good!! (13), (15), (16) Surprising, considering the
frequent run-ins Unilever has with the Advertising Standards Authority, UK (17),
(18), (19). Also, Fair and Lovely is one of the more profitable brands in Unilever
and HLLs portfolios. As Karnani (11) mentions; HLL reasons that 90 percent of
Indian women want to use whiteners because it is aspirational. A fair skin
is like education, regarded as a social and economic step up (20). If such a
stance is not reflective of reinforcing and promoting unhealthy stereotypes of
colorism; then we dont know what is! And all this dangerous charade still goes on
despite Fair & Lovely being given the award for the most gender-insensitive
television advertisements in 2006!(21)
HLLs clout lies in the fact that till date the company has not been required to
prove the efficacy of Fair & Lovely, since this product is not categorized as a
pharmaceutical product despite its implications for the skin! Karnanis
observations (11) about Hammond and Prahalad (22) in his working paper are
startling: (Hammond and Prahalad cite the comments of a young female street
sweeper who expressed pride in using a fashion product that will prevent the hot
sun from taking as great a toll on her skin as it did on her parents. According to
Hammond and Prahalad, she now has a choice and feels empowered because of
an affordable consumer product formulated for her needs. Further, they assert
that by providing a choice to the poor, HLL is allowing the poor to exercise a
basic right which improves the quality of their lives. HLL is making the poor
better off by providing real value in dignity and choice.). There could be no
example more blatant than this where an MNC exploits a misconceived construct
of female vanity and then reinforces it with the help of deluded Business
Management Gurus! Unfortunately, this process continues even today.
Fair & Lovelys target market is largely women in the age group 18-35 (23).
However, in reality even schoolgirls in the 12-14 years age group widely use it
(24). Since Fair & Lovely is marketed in affordable small size packs to
target/exploit those at the Bottom Of the Pyramid naturally, the poor living in the
slums are also affected (24).

WHY FAIRNESS FORMULATIONS NEED TO BE SHUNNED
The melanin in an individuals skin serves a purpose. It plays a crucial role in the
health of your skin.It protects your skin from the harmful effects of radiation and
reduces incidences of skin disease.Melanin is an effective absorber of light; the
pigment is able to dissipate over 99.9% of absorbed UV radiation. Because of this
property, melanin is thought to protect skin cells from UVB radiation damage,
reducing the risk of cancer. Furthermore, though exposure to UV radiation is
associated with increased risk of malignant melanoma, a cancer of the
melanocytes, studies have shown a lower incidence for skin cancer in individuals
with more concentrated melanin, i.e. darker skin tone. (25)
Mackintosh (26) states that melanization of skin and other tissues forms an
important component of the innate immune defense system. A major function of
melanocytes, melanosomes and melanin in skin is to inhibit the proliferation of
bacterial, fungal and other parasitic infections of the dermis and epidermis. This
function can potentially explain (a) the latitudinal gradient in melanization of
human skin; (b) the fact that melanocyte and melanization patterns among
different parts of the vertebrate body do not reflect exposure to radiation; (c)
provide a theoretical framework for recent empirical findings concerning the
antimicrobial activity of melanocytes and melanosomes and their regulation by
known mediators of inflammatory responses. Surely, the findings of this paper
should be reason enough to eschew fairness compositions!
In developing countries there is a tendency among women to seek solutions to
dermatological issues by going to beauticians or even experienced friends before
seeking professional medical help; in such circumstances the problems that can
occur with the use of whitening formulations pose a significant risk.
Tretinoin used in skin lightening formulations can have side-effects; users using
such formulations have to avoid sunlight, as the skin can easily tan. Also, using
tretinoin always makes the skin more sensitive to UVA and UVB rays.
Another ingredient Hydroquinone which is used in skin lightening formulations
works by disrupting the synthesis and production of melanin hyperpigmentation. It
has been banned in some countries (e.g. France) because of fears of a cancer risk.
Hydroquinone has also been shown to cause leukemia in mice and other animals.
The European Union banned it from cosmetics in 2001. (27)
Research suggests that kojic acid which is used in many skin fairness compositions
may have carcinogenic properties in large doses (28). kojic acid can also cause
allergic contact dermatitis and skin irritation (29).
Use of steroids for lightening skin color is of particular concern in India according
to a report from Telegraph (30) titled Doctors warn against steroid creams for
fairness: -
(Dermatologists are worried at what they believe is widespread abuse of fairness
creams, including some that contain potentially harmful steroids, by consumers
across the country in their efforts to turn fairer. Doctors are particularly worried
about the abuse of creams that contain a potent steroid called clobetasol or a
bleaching compound called hydroquinone. Both have legitimate uses in
dermatology, but not for lightening the colour of skin. The steroid is primarily
used in treating inflammatory disorders, but one of its side effects is lightening the
skin.
You do not find clobetasol in creams branded as fairness creams. But creams
with clobetasol intended for inflammatory disorders are abused by patients as
fairness creams, he said. Creams with hydroquinone can lead to a condition
called paradoxical hyperpigmentation an effect of the compound that makes the
skin appear darker than what it was, he said.)

CONCLUSION
Conditioned by Turkic, Moghul and British Colonial influences the post-
independence Indian still remains conditioned by fixations of colorism. People fail
to realize that melanization of skin and other tissues forms an important
component of the innate immune defense system.
MNCs exploit this misconceived construct of female vanity and then reinforce it
with the help of deluded Business Management Gurus, targeting populations even
at the bottom of the pyramid by selling them dreams of fairer skin! The facial
moisturizers segment dominated by whitening (84%) in India is forecasted to grow
at a compound annual growth rate of 10.5% from 2009 to 2014. The hysteria of
colorism has now expanded to exploit male vanity (31) and even female genitalia
(32)!
.



CITATIONS

(1) Walker, Alice: "If the Present Looks Like the Past, What Does the Future
Look Like?" (1982), in In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens 290, 290-91
(1983)
(2) Land of The Seven Rivers: A Brief History of Indias Geography, Sanjeev
Sanyal, Penguin Viking, 2012.
(3) "The Ajanta Caves", Thames and Hudson, 1998, reprint 2005, page 87
(4) Aurangazeb and the decay of the Mughal Empire, by Stanley Lane-Poole,
Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1908.
(5) The Journey Beyond Three Seas, Afanasiy Nikitin, translated by Count
Wielhorski, In Parenthesis Publications, Medieval Russian Series,
Cambridge, Ontario, 2000
(6) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/arts/design/princes-and-painters-in-
mughal-delhi-at-asia-society.html?_r=0
(7) http://paintingsgalleries.blogspot.in/2008/11/akbarnama-paintings-of-
mughal-costumes.html
(8) http://ravivarma.org/Mughal-paintings?page=1#.Usf_w9IW0lQ
(9) Living in a Barbie World: Skin Bleaching and the Preference for Fair Skin
in India, Nigeria, and Thailand, Senior Honors Thesis, Center for
Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, Stanford University, May
14, 2013
(10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubbufbkbovY
(11) Aneel Karnani, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan,
Working Paper No. 1063, January 2007, Doing Well by Doing Good Case
Study: Fair & Lovely Whitening Cream
(12) Euromonitor, 2010.
(13) Prahalad, C.K. Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating
Poverty through Profits. Wharton School Publishing, 2004.
(14) Time. Selling to the Poor. Time, 17 April, 2005.
(15) Hart, S.L. Capitalism at the Crossroads. Wharton School Publishing,
2005.
(16) Balu, R. Strategic innovation: Hindustan Lever Ltd. Fast Company,
2001.
(17) http://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2013/10/Unilever-UK-
Ltd/SHP_ADJ_218303.aspx
(18) http://www.just-food.com/news/asa-bans-unilever-flora-ad-over-health-
claims_id124799.aspx
(19) http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=a2a9d53d-0817-43e5-
a2e2-2989d95397bf
(20) Luce, E. and K. Merchant. India orders ban on advert saying fairer
equals better for women. Financial Times, 20 March, 2003.
(21) Indiantelevision.com, 2006.
(22) Hammond, A. and C.K. Prahalad. Selling to the poor. Foreign Policy,
2004.
(23) Srisha, D. Fairness Wars. ICFAI Center for Management Research,
Hyderabad, 2001.
(24) Ninan, S. Seeing red with this pitch. The Hindu, 16 March, 2003.
(25) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanin
(26) Mackintosh J. A., J Theor Biol 2001 Sep 7;212(1):128.
(27) Fuller, Thomas (2006-05-14). "A Vision of Pale Beauty Carries Risks for
Asia's Women". The New York Times.
(28) Mutation Research, Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis,
June 2005, pages 133-1450 and Toxicological Sciences, September 2004,
pages 43-49.
(29) Serra-Baldrich, E., Trib, M. J. and Camarasa, J. G. (1998), Allergic
contact dermatitis from kojic acid. Contact Dermatitis, 39: 8687.
(30) http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100123/jsp/frontpage/story_12018956.jsp
(31) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWZpwDUaVfs
(32) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9Dmbqz5tJ 0