Hindustan Unilever Limited, recently, decided to drop the word fair from their popular product “Fair & Lovely”. A statement released by the company read that the brand is committed to celebrating all skin tones. The move has been applauded by netizens and celebrities alike.
Here’s what a few celebrities have to say:
Shashank Vyas: The question here is why we waited for something tragic to happen to learn a lesson. We talk about inner beauty, but we add filters to our photos, can’t we all be normal and accept our natural skin tone. We need to realize that these products do not differentiate between colours, but we as customers do. Love yourself and be confident. Nelson Mandela, P. T. Usha, Barack Obama, there are many personalities whom we all should look up to. Instead of our skin, we need to clear our thoughts first.
Vijayendra Kumeria: I am totally against any kind of discrimination. Skin colour is not something that determines the beauty of a person. I feel disgusted when I come across people who think fair is beautiful. Beauty has nothing to do with skin tone. I don’t want to sound philosophical, but the truth is beauty lies within you. I hate seeing ads promoting this stupid myth of getting a fairer skin tone. Such products should be banned. In fact the mindset of people should also change. Instead of a fair complexion, people should concentrate on being good human beings.
Vikas Sethi: We live in absolutely unprecedented times due to the entire global situation. With the entire #blacklivesmatter movement we are reaching a point which is significant and a war against racism, which was started by Martin Luther King. I am a strong believer that we must look at human beings as souls, irrespective of skin colour, age, gender, and that’s when we will respect everyone equally. The Indian matrimonial advertisement scenario has to change. Yes, HUL marks a beginning of the end of colorism. Our movies and media should also transform to feature talent for talent irrespective of color, size, shape and form.
Jhanvi Sethi: I am a believer that beauty does lie in the eyes of the beholder. Our parameters of beauty are highly influenced by our upbringing and family conditioning. As the founder of MyZindagi Foundation and with a focus on mental well-being – I believe that these stereotypes impact the mental health of so many of us. This has to significantly shift for us to come to realise our truest selves. I believe that the matrimonial ads should read differently. Imagine an ad like, strong, confident, loving kind, gentle, compassionate partner looking for someone with similar values.
Avinash Mukherjee: Racism based on colorism has been prevalent not only in our society but in every society. HUL is also a company from London, and they also propagated the same but it’s good that they are conducive and getting into the Indian standard of beauty which is not based on color or not based on beauty or fairness. In this pandemic people are changing their mind-set and the recent movement taking place, we all should be a part of it.
Arun Mandola: Great Initiative by Hindustan Unilever Limited. They are taking a risk by dropping “fair” from “Fair & Lovely”. In our society people are judged easily because of their complexion. If you are black then, you are weak or poor. We saw a big example recently in America, but this colorism happens all over the world. America is one of the most powerful countries and they are highly advanced but still, they are stuck between black & white. Lord Krishna was not fair, but if you see, in maximum TV shows, he is portrayed as fair. These days maximum android phones have a beauty plus feature. I think we as a society have fed our minds about fair & black complexion. Superstars to common man all are crazy for fair skin. People are spending money for fairness, but I appreciate Hindustan Unilever’s initiative.
Bhoomika Mirchandani: Colorism is everywhere. Beauty has nothing to do with complexion, first of all beauty is not even a topic to discuss. Outer beauty is not all about complexion or your features because even your feature is not in your hands it is all in your genes. The word beauty comprises so many things, if you say outer beauty it is all about how you behave, how you talk to people. Hindustan Unilever’s initiative of dropping the fair word from their product “Fair & Lovely” is much appreciated, but they should have done this long back. Even though they have dropped the word fair, the mentality of Indians won’t change, we need to change the mentality that fair is beauty.
Khushbhoo Kamal: In India people think fair means beautiful, it doesn’t if they don’t have good features. They give more importance to outer beauty but actually they should see the inner beauty of the person. When it comes to beauty, we should start considering the quality of the person which is more important. HUL has decided to drop the word fair, but they need to see first that there is no such cream which will make your skin tone fair. If you are not beautiful from inside, your outer beauty doesn’t matter. Black and white discrimination needs to change. A person should get respect and importance based on their behaviour and what they are contributing in society, family and the kind of the person he/she is, that should be the criteria to give importance to any person.
Meera Deosthale: Yes, I believe what happened was like a wake up call for everyone. Without caste and color we all will come down to respect and prioritise humanity. I have been influenced by a lot of people and most of them being black. I am myself not a fair skin toned person and I absolutely love my skin. My brother lives in Canada and Indians over there are considered as black people, after the incident that has happened recently and the revolt it followed, racism against Indians will also reduce. Even on television, people used to always prefer having a fair heroine. That is also changing. It’s great to see the world changing and find a harmonious way to live with each other.
Pranitaa Pandit: I believe that we have been talking about it and fighting about it for years. There are many Bollywood actors who have refused to feature in ads for fairness products. I don’t think anyone should be categorised by black and white, especially not human beings because that’s not how it is supposed to be, everything is beautiful black or white, and color should not matter. We have been fighting for this and of course this particular incident has again triggered a few things in the society. It is a great step by Hindustan Unilever to drop the word fair from their product. In India, even today in suburbs, fairness is considered one of those added advantages that women have but it should not be in that way. This little step will eventually make a drastic change in society.
