Sunday, January 15, 2006
Mirror mirror on the wall...who's the fairest of us all?
Scene 1:
A girl just out of college is running from pillar to post looking for a job.She's rejected at every place she tries her luck.What does she do then?She turns to her Miss know-it-all friend who gifts her with a fairness cream as the key to all her problems.She uses it for 4 weeks and you know what happens next...She's loaded with offers for work!
Scene 2:
Arranged marriage scene.Guy's family visit the girl's family.They leave in a huff 'cos they find out that the girl is dusky and not the fair doll that they thought she'd be.Girl tries one of those fairness creams for 4 weeks.And lo behold...!The same family welcomes her as a bride
with open arms!
I thought it was skills that we possessed that got us our jobs.Maybe I was mistaken.
I thought marriage meant union of two compatible people.Maybe I was mistaken.
By now,you've got a 'fair' idea of what I'm heading into next.What exactly are these advertisements trying to portray to the masses?
-That the color of the skin counts and not your inner self?
-That a girl can't get herself a job and a groom if she's not fair?
And why do these well-educated popular film stars agree to endorse these brands?
Don't they hold a higher social responsibility of not misleading the masses?
Why do they want to lure innocent girls into this vicious arena where all that matters is how you look?
I don't see why it is wrong if one has a darker skin color.Don't we have dusky beauties all around us who are as successful as their fairer counterparts?
Moreover,why do these advertisements attack the female masses?
What they are trying to show is that a guy can get a job or a bride no matter what his skin color is...?Why can't the same rule apply to girls?Male chauvinism at its worst...!
We have endured such meaningless advertisements for long enough.I think its high time we have a board review the advertisments to ensure that the right message gets across to the masses.Let us join hands and raise our voices and condemn such advertisements which are in a way promoting racism of a different kind.
(P.S. They have a fairness cream for guys too these days!)
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14 comments:
hey.. my thots exactly manas.. even i have been wanting to post about this for a long time..i totally "detest" those ads..i have always wundered y they arent banned yet..
but i remem seeein in ndtv.. the favorite argument of the ad film makers is tat "we jus potray wat the ppl want" and to some extent they r rite..
check out the matrimonial ads.. al of dem want a "fair,tall,goodlooking" girl.. why do the fairness cream companies run?? cos ppl buy em..
this does not mean im defendin the ads but first "we the ppl" have to change our attitude.. !! lets hope tat happens soon & lets hope those dumb ads are banned..
ok.. im ready.. where do we start joining our hands and raising our voices?? hehe
jus kidding.. ya.. iys ridiculous.. fairness creams for guys..
thot provokin! good job!
as radha has pointed out,we hav to change.
if we hav high self-esteem and self-confidence and reject this rubbish ,i guess things will change!
hey !
how's tat "male chauvinistic " ?!!
wat do u dames have against us ? its not like we support this shit !!
i say everyone frm the models who work to the guy (or girl) who came out with the concept shud be sued !!
but it amazes me that crap like this goes on air and no one does anyting abt it !! amazing !
Am not blaming you guys.Wat I implied by that statement is that the ads are male chauvinistic!(no offense meant..!)And yeah I really do wonder why such stuff is allowed to go on air...
i wudnt say its tat male chauvinistic... there are a lot of ladies at the top who have a hand in these commercials... and its not as if all males want their girls to be fair... and there are a lot of girls who do believe tat being fair is the only way of being lovely...so the blame has to be divided equally!
but i certainly agree tat these are some of the lamest ads i ve ever seen!
hey manas..i shd say this is incredible..havent met a quicker thinker than u..a weeks time n already a bunch of blogs..great work da!!
this one especially i couldnt stop commenting..i fully second ur thoughts..women are more often than not tagged with a price based on their color whereevr they go..esp those matrimonial ads in the newspapers where men get to pick women from fair,very fair,wheatish categories
hey n btw u seemed to be often targetin the darker sex!!anyways im enjoyin it..ur hittin the nail on the right spot:)
these fairness ads r just utter crap n ppl r still fallin 4 it n buyin these products.ppl jus want to know how u look on the outside but shudnt one b more interested in what kind of person u really r rather than just whether ur fat or slim /tall or short / fair or dark.....
added to these fairness ads they r some stupid teleshoppin ads trying to make u buy a product that will make u taller n ppl fall 4 that too!!!
if u r short or dark n someone keeps commenting abt it u shudnt feel inferior in neway.if ur friends or ppl around u dont like u the way u r n try to convince u that u shud do somethin abt it then they really r not ur friends in the first place.
I totally agree with u nisha!And BD,I'm not exactly targetting the darker sex...as I said before in this one,I'm giving vent to the anger that overcomes me when I watch these stupid ads and abt the 'make friendship' - all characters in that story are not fictitious and any resemblance to them is intentionally co-incidental! ;-) (But its jus a certain section of the opposite sex that happens to be so jobless...)
Are we not intelligent enough not to fall for them. That's what our education teaches us.And then it is our mindset which we need to work on....let's be honest with ourslves.....it is people like us who endorse this products by buying them....and each one of us has fallen prey at some point to one of them...basically because somewhere we do feel appearance makes the difference...and they just cash in on our lack of self confidence. The moment we stop buying them ...the ads will not be able to afford themselves...so check whether u or ur friends r using any of that.....I am sure each one of us using some of these products....Be it fairmess..anti ageing,anti blemish...perfect hair.....the list goes on
These fairness creams... seems like an odd form of racism.. the whiter you are the more superior you are.. oddly enough outside our country our skin tone is regarded as "exotic" "hott" "sexy" and people spend hours tanning to get to half the skin tone we have..
I have been agitated over this issue for so long. Completely in agreement over this. These fairness cream ads should be banned if not the fairness cream themselves. I have actually gone through and circled the number of matrimonial ads that state that the girls need to be 'fair' among other things(homely, convent educated and tall being the other stipulations. Doesn't matter what the guy is like of course!)Over 90% of them stipulated fair. We have got to make people realize that being dark and being beautiful are not mutually exclusive. This obsession over fair skin has got to end!
And don't even get me started about the male chauvinism in our society. In fact in most societies. In a country where the majority Hindus believe in the power of the female goddesses, it is ironic that the women are not deemed worthy of the same respect. And I do not mean the respect as superior beings. Just as equals.
manasvi, gee man, u know wat am fumbling for words to verbalize. great would an understatement and that would an understatement in itself
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