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Beauty is an important concept in Indian consumerism, making India one of the biggest markets for beauty products in the world. Within the Indian beauty market, one of the highest selling products are skin fairness creams. The notion of beauty is heavily influenced by culture. Fair skin is synonymous to the Indian notion of beauty. In this article, I briefly analyze the cultural meanings associated with skin whitening in India, highlighting gender differences in these meaning systems. While beauty is desirable to both genders, we observe differences in the role beauty plays in identity projects of men vs. women. Through this exercise, I aim to elucidate some deep-rooted mental models that unconsciously inform judgements about skin color in the Indian society, and how these judgements differ by gender. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike the west, Indian differences in skin color do not connect with racism (all Indians belong to the same sub-continental race). Skin fairness in India lies in the domain of \u201ccolorism\u201d\u2014different tones of the skin within the same race. If we dismantle the subject matter of colorism, it boils down to the difference in the tone of skin color\u2014dark vs. light. What meanings do these two tones carry in our minds? To understand the different trajectories of meaning, we need to understand how color moves on the continuum of darkness and lightness. The continuum can be understood by applying two concepts of color theory\u2014shade<\/strong> and tint<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As it can be seen in the image above, there is a base hue which can be transformed into a lighter or darker version by adding white or adding black to it. We can assume that in a culture, there is a default skin tone and the relatively \u201cfairer\u201d and \u201cdarker\u201d tones would be seen as tints and shades respectively. I propose that there are two parallel axes at play in Indian skin culture: (1) the shade axis, and (2) the tint axis. The addition or removal of blackness<\/em> falls in the realm of shade<\/em>\u2014the axis of morality. The addition or removal of whiteness<\/em> falls in the realm of tint\u2014<\/em> the axis of social class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cultural meanings are embedded in products through meaning systems created in advertising and packaging (McCracken 1986). To understand the cultural meanings of skin whitening products in India, I decode some print advertisements and packaging designs of skin fairness products available. This method of semiotic analysis attempts to pick up \u2018signs\u2019 from brand communications and decode underlying meaning systems. On analysing advertisements of skin fairness products for women vs. men, we can roughly map the two axes (i.e. shade and tint) to each gender. We can see that skin fairness for women is playing in the shade-space of morality. For women, fairness products are predominantly moralizers that are removing \u201cblackness\u201d\u2014navigating away from being a potential \u201ckalmoohi\u201d. Whereas, when we look at skin fairness products for men, we are playing in the tint-space of social status. For men, fairness products are elevators that are adding \u201cwhiteness\u201d\u2014navigating towards the \u201cfirangi\u201d colonial master. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cultural concept of \u201ckalmoohi\u201d is important to discuss here. Kalmoohi is a derogatory Hindi word that literally translates to \u201ca woman with a black face\u201d. This word is usually used to refer to a woman who has done an immoral act (for example, a pre-marital affair that has historically been designated as immoral in India). Interestingly, there is no equivalent word related to skin color to derogate a man who has done an immoral act. When a woman has a black face, she is immoral. But to perform well in the marriage market (or in the Indian job market if you are a woman), you need to whiten your face. Skin-whitening products for women, hence, play the role of moralizers<\/strong>\u2014helping you to navigate from being a potential kalmoohi<\/em> to a moral woman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The notion of feminine beauty in India is deeply influenced by the marriage market code. In fact, the genesis of skin whitening products through the launch of Fair & Lovely\u2014was inspired by matrimonial ads that frequently asked for \u201cfair\u201d brides. Although we see the emergence of love-marriages, arranged marriages have been the dominant form of marriage in India. Match-making is done on the basis of the bride\u2019s family history, and the physical appearance of the bride (see our curated content on the revealing Netflix series on Indian Matchmaking here<\/a><\/em>). Unlike love marriages, the boy and the girl do not get the opportunity to evaluate each other in terms of personality and character traits. What attributes are most important while making a choice in the marriage market? While for men, the attributes are related to career and wealth, for women, the desirable traits are related to beauty and morality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words such as \u201cflawless\u201d, \u201ca gift from the gods\u201d and \u201cmiracle\u201d signify divine cleansing<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Divine rays entering the woman\u2019s face, like a moralizing force (boon or vardaan<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pink fairness and its equation with innocence (kinderschema) is adding to the moralizing force<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While fairness creams were predominantly women\u2019s beauty products, over the last decade we see growth of men\u2019s fairness products in India. Men are seeking skin fairness, not as morality signals, but as sources of power residing in status symbols. A daily wage labourer who toils under the sun is likely to have dark skin, whereas, an elite businessman who spends his entire day in an air-conditioned room is likely to sport fair skin (as can be seen in the advertisement below). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Transforming the daily laborer into an elite businessman<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we look back at our colonial history, Indian masculinity was threatened by the suppressive powers of colonial rulers. The colonial discourse of the effeminate Indian male lacking in Victorian masculine virtues turned the Indian male into a pejorative self-image. The colonialists had selectively labelled male bodies as laughably feminine or brutally savage-like (Alter, 2000). Colonized bodies were subjugated. Colonized skin was darker than the colonizer skin. The colonizer skin had more whiteness, and hence, more power. The white-skinned British rulers\u2014known as \u201cfirangi\u201d (translated as \u201cforeigner\u201d)\u2014have been associated with greater power and social status. Having a fair-skinned male child in India, one is likely to receive comments such as, \u201cYour child looks like a foreigner\u201d. These comments are made as compliments categorizing the child into a superior social class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201cjewel in the crown\u201d allude to reclaiming one\u2019s political position of power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words \u201cPowerWhite\u201d connote white as a source of power (for men)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As it can be seen in the advertisement above, the repeated usage of the word \u201cmore\u201d shows that men\u2019s fairness is working in the additive<\/em> space. Products are elevators that are helping men rise above in status and power by adding \u201cmore\u201d whiteness\u2014the tint process. Whereas, women\u2019s fairness is working in the preventive or subtractive<\/em> space. For women, it is about removing \u201cflaws\u201d (with repeated usage of words such as flawless). Products are moralizers that are helping women cleanse away the \u201cblackness\u201d\u2014the shade process. We also observe some ads for women\u2019s fairness creams that show girls achieve career progression after their skin gets fairer. So, the gender distinction is not watertight in the additive space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unilever recently changed the name of their skin lightening product from \u201cFair & Lovely\u201d to \u201cGlow & Lovely\u201d. While the motive behind this move is noble enough to start a conversation about being comfortable in one\u2019s skin, does it help move the trajectory of the product out of the \u201cmoralizer\u201d space? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
References:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alter, J. S. (2000). Subaltern bodies and nationalist physiques: Gama the great and the heroics of Indian wrestling. Body & society<\/em>, 6<\/em>(2), 45-72.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Appadurai, A. (1981). Gastro\u2010politics in Hindu South Asia. American ethnologist<\/em>, 8<\/em>(3), 494-511.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (2008). Metaphors we live by<\/em>. University of Chicago press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marriott, M. (1976). Hindu transactions: Diversity with-out dualism. Transaction and Meaning: directions in the anthropology of exchange and symbolic behaviour. Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McCracken, G. (1986). Culture and consumption: A theoretical account of the structure and movement of the cultural meaning of consumer goods. Journal of consumer research<\/em>, 13<\/em>(1), 71-84.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shweder, R. A., Mahapatra, M., & Miller, J. G. (1987). Culture and moral development. The emergence of morality in young children<\/em>, 1-83.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Email:<\/b> tanvi.gupta@iimu.ac.in<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beauty is an important concept in Indian consumerism, making India one of the biggest markets for beauty products in the world. Within the Indian beauty market, one of the highest selling products are skin fairness creams. The notion of beauty is heavily influenced by culture. Fair skin is synonymous to the Indian notion of beauty. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[68,43,25,32,54,64,61,67,53,48,56,33,17,24,65,66],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cclab.iimu.ac.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cclab.iimu.ac.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cclab.iimu.ac.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cclab.iimu.ac.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cclab.iimu.ac.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/cclab.iimu.ac.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":787,"href":"https:\/\/cclab.iimu.ac.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions\/787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cclab.iimu.ac.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cclab.iimu.ac.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cclab.iimu.ac.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cclab.iimu.ac.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}