Now, normally, to review a product, you would have to try it out first. But this is not the case with this review. I certainly haven’t tried this soap, nor do I intend to. Frankly, I couldn’t care less if it worked or not. What this review is dealing with is the message products such as these are sending out to millions of indians. In my opinion, these ’whitening’, ’lightening’, ’fairness’, or whatever you want to call it products are plain degrading.
I mean, hello, what are they suggesting- if you are not fair and lovely...then you’re dark and ugly? Lets face the facts here, if we are to look at India, as a nation, the vast majority of our population is dark skinned(which is certainly not a bad thing, as these products mislead consumers into believeing.) Yet what is wrong with not having a fair complexion? Does it make you suddenly superior if you are paler than someone else? I certainly should hope not. Are you more likely to get a job or even sing better as some of these twisted advertisments suggest? I really would hope not.
What utterly disgusts me even further lies in the fact that celebrities are endorsing such products. Not so long ago, I saw Aishwarya Rai in a L’oreal ’’fairness cream’’ advertisment in a magazine. Then there was a supposed deal between a fairness cream company to have their products being shown in Rakesh Roshan’s Koi Mil Gaya... Luckily, the deal didn’t materialize. People look up to celebrities as role models and by giving them the impression that through fairness they can be more attractive, that is simply not ethical.
On a more scientific note, these products are often unsafe- many believe that frequent usage could result in skin cancer. Now obviously this varies from product to product, but why take the risk?
So what is the point of this review? All I’m saying is, we have to get realstic here. We are Indian, and having dark skin is part of the way we are. Why change it? Why lower ourselves? Especially considering black can be beautiful too.