If a guy falls out of love or did not love you anymore cos of trivial or superficial reasons like your skin not being fair enough, then good riddance!
And if you seriously think that a bottle of whitening cream is going to make him fall in love with you, think again.
Frankly, that's the message the Ponds' White Beauty cream is trying to convey. How superficial and shallow is that? Frankly, if one is born darker skin, whitening cream can do only so much. Creams can only lightened up to 2-3 shades. That's all!
Accept it! If all that stands between you and dream guy is fair skin, forget it. It is never going to happen!
Otherwise, this ad is shot beautifully, almost like a mini movie. The actresses are stunning, but the concept just sucks!
---------------------------
The New Paper
12 July 2008
Vanity unfair?
Indian actress sparks controversy with role in ad for skin-whitening cream
SHE'S not the fairest of them all, at least in terms of complexion. But that has never been a problem for Indian actress Priyanka Chopra - until now. The Bollywood star and former Miss World has found herself at the centre of a race row after she appeared in a three-part television advertisement for a skin-whitening cream, reported The Independent.
The 'mini-series' co-stars Saif Ali Khan and Neha Dhupia and centres on a love triangle between the three actors. In the first 'episode', the dusky-skinned Chopra runs into ex-boyfriend Khan with his fairer skinned new love, played by Dhupia. The segment ends with Chopra staring at an advert for a cream promising users a 'pinkish white glow' to their complexion.
The underlying message is simple: The lighter skinned woman gets the man. And the product, a cream produced by Hindustan Lever, part of the Unilever group, is the none-too-subtly named White Beauty. The advertisment has sparked outrage and debate in India. Some feel that it is discriminatory and outdated, and plays on an age-old Indian obsession with fair skin.
The videos have been posted online, drawing a slew of angry comments. One of the more polite posters wrote: 'Priyanka is said to be the epitome of dusky beauty, and her dusky skin was said to be sexy, yet she became so cheap as to ridicule her own dark skin to make money.'
Ms Urvashi Butalia, a historian, told The Independent: 'It is strange. There is such a premium placed on pale skin. 'I am not sure where it comes from. It may have something to do with India's history of being colonised by various people, and that there is a hangover of the idea that Aryan people are superior and Dravidian people - those who were already here - are inferior.'
The White Beauty advertisements are not the only examples of fair skin being associated with beauty. A new television drama, Bidaai, features two sisters, one pale and one dark-skinned. Not surprisingly, it is the former who is first to get married. Despite the angry reactions, there are also women who find neither the promotion of fair skin, nor the Hindustan Lever adverts discriminatory or patronising.
Student Mallika Makhija, 18, told The Independent: 'I don't think it's racist, I just think that everyone thinks they can look better 'People want to look good and there is this idea that a paler complexion is ideal.' Ms Makhija said she does not use a whitening cream, though she thinks many Indian women do.
The Preview/Teaser
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
The making of....
And if you seriously think that a bottle of whitening cream is going to make him fall in love with you, think again.
Frankly, that's the message the Ponds' White Beauty cream is trying to convey. How superficial and shallow is that? Frankly, if one is born darker skin, whitening cream can do only so much. Creams can only lightened up to 2-3 shades. That's all!
Accept it! If all that stands between you and dream guy is fair skin, forget it. It is never going to happen!
Otherwise, this ad is shot beautifully, almost like a mini movie. The actresses are stunning, but the concept just sucks!
---------------------------
The New Paper
12 July 2008
Vanity unfair?
Indian actress sparks controversy with role in ad for skin-whitening cream
SHE'S not the fairest of them all, at least in terms of complexion. But that has never been a problem for Indian actress Priyanka Chopra - until now. The Bollywood star and former Miss World has found herself at the centre of a race row after she appeared in a three-part television advertisement for a skin-whitening cream, reported The Independent.
The 'mini-series' co-stars Saif Ali Khan and Neha Dhupia and centres on a love triangle between the three actors. In the first 'episode', the dusky-skinned Chopra runs into ex-boyfriend Khan with his fairer skinned new love, played by Dhupia. The segment ends with Chopra staring at an advert for a cream promising users a 'pinkish white glow' to their complexion.
The underlying message is simple: The lighter skinned woman gets the man. And the product, a cream produced by Hindustan Lever, part of the Unilever group, is the none-too-subtly named White Beauty. The advertisment has sparked outrage and debate in India. Some feel that it is discriminatory and outdated, and plays on an age-old Indian obsession with fair skin.
The videos have been posted online, drawing a slew of angry comments. One of the more polite posters wrote: 'Priyanka is said to be the epitome of dusky beauty, and her dusky skin was said to be sexy, yet she became so cheap as to ridicule her own dark skin to make money.'
Ms Urvashi Butalia, a historian, told The Independent: 'It is strange. There is such a premium placed on pale skin. 'I am not sure where it comes from. It may have something to do with India's history of being colonised by various people, and that there is a hangover of the idea that Aryan people are superior and Dravidian people - those who were already here - are inferior.'
The White Beauty advertisements are not the only examples of fair skin being associated with beauty. A new television drama, Bidaai, features two sisters, one pale and one dark-skinned. Not surprisingly, it is the former who is first to get married. Despite the angry reactions, there are also women who find neither the promotion of fair skin, nor the Hindustan Lever adverts discriminatory or patronising.
Student Mallika Makhija, 18, told The Independent: 'I don't think it's racist, I just think that everyone thinks they can look better 'People want to look good and there is this idea that a paler complexion is ideal.' Ms Makhija said she does not use a whitening cream, though she thinks many Indian women do.
The Preview/Teaser
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
The making of....
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