Advertising Creams
Advertisements are created in order to sell a product. [1] When selling beauty products in particular, such as lightening creams, the goal of the advertisement is to make the customer feel inferior. [2] They want them to desire the look on the screen more than the look in the mirror. In doing so, the consumer is sold on the product. However, “since most products fail to deliver what they advertise, consumers continue to look for new and improved ways to fill a void that was constructed by the advertising world in the first place. [3]
“In short, dark skin becomes a burden and handicap that can be overcome only by using the product being advertised.” [4]
This advertisement was created to sell two lightening products called “skin bleach cream” and “lemon cleansing cream” in the 1930s. This advertisement was distributed in both North and Central America, including countries such as the United States.
The company, Sweet Georgia Brown, attempts to persuade consumers into buying their products by using phrases such as, “many men are attracted to lighter looking skin like needles to a horseshoe magnet” and, “are you being neglected by those who love you because of your complexion?”. These phrases are used to persuade woman into believing that they’ll be more desirable and more valuable if they have lighter complexion. This leads those with darker complexions to believe they are in need for the lightening cream. This illustrates how lightening cream advertisements work based on the presence of colorism within these societies
"The typical “before and after” ad becomes shorthand for this meme. Before, your dark skin is unacceptable, but after it is lightened, you become acceptable and respectable -simple but devastatingly effective." [5]
This commercial was created to sell 9X Fairness Cream, a brand of lightening cream, in India [6]. The commercial begins by a one woman in the airport pointing out another woman’s dark complexion to her, when the woman looks at the mirror with expressions of worry. The woman who pointed this out to the woman with dark complexion then gives her lightening cream, 9X fairness cream, to use in order to fix the problem she pointed out.
Once the woman uses this cream, she almost appears unrecognizable. Not only is her skin tone significantly lighter, but her hair also changes from dark brown to blonde. Her hair blowing in the wind, and brand-new outfit also add to the new look. In addition, the commercial ends with her being mistaken by the airport staff as a foreign traveler as opposed to a native one.
It is through the use of a lightening cream that this commercial illustrates the presence of colorism in India. This is done by depicting lighter skin as more desirable. The look of those who had colonized them prior [the British], is also depicted as more desirable. This can be seen through the blonde hair and being mistaken as a foreigner. This illustrates the root of colorism present within India, when they were colonized by the British, as the look of those who were seen as powerful is promoted as more desirable in their beauty industry.
[1] Madhusmita Das and Sangeeta Sharma, Fetishizing Women: Advertising in Indian Television and its Effects on Target Audiences. (Journal of International Women’s Studies 18, no. 1 2016), 115.
[2] Sandeep K. Sambhi, All is Not Fair: The Cosmetics War on Women in India,(University of Oregon, 2016), 9.