Oh beauty products, please don't be racists!

Gone are the days when I would turn over the pages of my history book and one of the most common things which I would find were the various types of crimes
that happened against the black African people and the type of racism which existed back in the day. The irony is that I have been getting a practical taste of their situation all along as I stumble upon TV commercials everyday which depict about the inferior complex not being accepted in the Indian society. It is very sad to see that in a country like India, which is secular theoretically, discrimination based on skin colour still exists in the modern era. Luckily, for the African people, they fought for their rights back then and thus won a much-deserved battle against racism. Is a similar battle awaiting the Indians?

The type of commercials being shown is very disturbing indeed. One ad shows that by applying a fairness cream, a girl goes on to win a singing reality show, while another shows that a boy, with comparatively darker skin doesn’t have it in him to be the Badshaah of the film industry. Seriously, is colour so important that it has made a mockery out of people who aren’t fair? I wouldn’t have cared about these fairness creams had it not made a fun out of people with unfair skin tone. It is because of these commercials that people have made an image of beautiful and handsome as being fairer. A stereotypical mindset has been developed within us because of the way these ads are made. Believe it or not, we should accept the reality rather than live in a hypothetical world. It isn’t a crime to be a brown Indian as it isn’t to be born as an African. It is because of the obsession that Indians have with fair skin that these products have flourished in our country. Imagine a ‘fair n lovely’ or a ‘fair n handsome’ product to be advertised in Africa. Would the product get as much importance as it does in our country?  Then, why do Indians get so obnoxiously addicted to something which is unattainable? Is it so much necessary to become fairer? Is colour so important? Have we not learnt anything from world history? I honestly think that being natural is being beautiful. It doesn’t matter if your skin is fair or unfair as long as you are a good human being. I also wouldn’t be as much grieved if these ads stop being racist every time they endorse their super-products. ‘Advertise without being a racist’.

p.s: I do not intend to hurt anybody. Be happy.