Cultural Norms, Fair & Lovely, and Advertising

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8/10/12

Cosmetic Market
3000cr Still Just

market

at primary stage 22% market penetration share:

Market

1200cr is for skincare 700cr is fairness creams HUL 54.5% CavinKare Fairever 12% Godrej FairGlow 3.4% Others 30%

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Others in the market

Emami

Fair

- Gold Turmeric, Boroplus, Naturally - Touch and Glow - Himalaya Fairness Cream Garnier Light Kaya Birla Group Kara Skincare Wipes Hussain Shahbright bright skin

Revlon

Himalaya L'Oreal Marico Aditya

Shahnaz

formula 8/10/12

Fair & Lovely

Worlds

#1 fairness cream in 1978 90% market share till 1998

Launched

Maintained Current

share over 50%, about 640cr

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Fairever
A

CavinKare brand in 1998

Launched Gained

1.3% share in 1st year & 15% in

two years
Rs.

170cr company by 2001 turnover in 2006-2007 was

Companys

5000m INR 8/10/12

Case Highlights
New

Advertisement campaign. in 2001 off air in 2003

Launched Taken

Reasons. Year

long campaign lead by AIDWA(All India Democratic Womens Association)

Case

filed against Fair and Lovely by AIDWA to the Human Rights Commission because
8/10/12

It was considered sexist

Legal Issues
Ministry

of Information and Broadcasting found the advertisements in violation of the Cable And Television Networks Acts of 1995
Provisions

of the act state that,

no advertisement shall be permitted which derides any race, caste, color, creed and nationality
It

also stated that

women must not be portrayed in a manner that emphasized passive, 8/10/12 submissive qualities and encourages them

Details of the ad
Fair

and Lovely

The ad focused on the girl not getting married, not finding a boyfriend and not finding a job

Fairever

The ad focused on achievement

Fair

and Lovelys response to Fairever

ads
8/10/12

Ads that focused on achievement too

Fair and Lovelys response to AIWDA

2003 On

international womens days, Fair and

Lovely launched its fair and Lovely Foundation aiming to encourage economic empowerment of women across India by providing resources in education and business.
8/10/12

Activities undertaken by HLL

Career

fairs in 20 cities offering counseling

in 110 career options.

It

supported 100 rural scholarships for

women students passing 10th std.

These

scholarships were for

a profession course for aspiring beauticians A three month course for a home healthcare nursing course

8/10/12 assistants

Fair And Lovely &

Fairever values and promises Values and beliefs of both the parent
companies, HLL and Cavinkare, as listed on their website are
Integrity, Do

fairness, excellence innovation, openness, trust. they deliver on their promise .?

The do

fairness creams do not deliver on their promise of visible fairness, not provide complete information about the ingredients used in the creams, and 8/10/12 their harmful effects

Issues
Does

not deliver on promise of fairness

Nothing

is controlled; producers are not compelled to indicate the content of their bleachers on the label. neither the quantity nor the proportion needs to be specified
Many

of these 'cosmetics', harmless in appearance, contain products deriving from such substances as

Corticoids mercury or hydroquinone, which if absorbed in big

8/10/12

Issues
Despite

sexy packaging and spicy slogans, bleaching products can lead to many health hazards, which are sometimes irreversible.
a

few potential consequences listed by several dermatology departments in France, Senegal, Togo and Burkina Faso:

Diabetes Hypertension Acne bone problems hyper hairiness renal insufficiency skin cancer disturbance of the menstrual cycle premature ageing of the skin Eczema cardio-vascular and respiratory problems

8/10/12

Comparison of fairness cream ads nationally and internationally Internationally

The

ads focus on how to use the product

These

ads are in no way related to achievement of goals and aspirations of the women portrayed in these ads
In

India,

The

ads focus on the aspirations of women claiming usage of the fairness creams lead to achievement of their goals and aspirations 8/10/12

Latest ad of Fair and Lovely

The

ad plays on the same message , only this time the message is conveyed in a different manner.

8/10/12

Question 1
Is

it ethical to sell a product that is, at best, only mildly effective? Discuss.
No.

it is not unethical if the exact extent of the products effectiveness are communicated to the consumer.
In

the case of most fairness creams the effects of the cream is shown to be much more that what it actually is.
According

to HLL itself, the creams are able to bring about skin color change of 1-3 8/10/12 shades

Question 2
Is

it ethical to exploit cultural norms and values to promote a product? Discuss.

No It

is only the perception or mindset of Indians that fair skin is a symbol of status, class, higher caste, ability and achievement
In

reality ability and achievement do not have any relation to a persons complexion.
There 8/10/12

has traditionally been a bias against girls in Indian society and a high preference

Question 3
Is

the advertising of Fair & Lovely demeaning to women or is it portraying a product not too dissimilar to cosmetics in general?
many

of the cosmetics advertisements theme is the beauty and the special function of the product. Fair & Lovely has advertised its products in this way.
It

showed how the miracle worker makes the women whiter and more confident. From this aspect, the advertisement is similar to 8/10/12

Question 4
Will

Fair and Lovelys Foundation counter charges made by AIDWA? Discuss.

It It

has not countered the charges until now.

has only responded indirectly to the allegations with its CSR initiatives

8/10/12

Question 5
..

In light of AIDWAs charges, how would you suggest Fair & Lovely promote its product? Discuss. Would your response be different if Fairever continues to use fairness as a theme of its promotion? Discuss.
our

suggestion is that Fair & Lovely may emphasize more on the confidence of the women than the beauty of women, which means they could show how confident a woman is after using their products while not just show how beautiful the woman is 8/10/12 because of the fair skin.

Question 6
Propose

a promotion program that will counter all the arguments and charges against fair & Lovely and be an effective program
New

advertisements that show the actual impact of the product on the skin. The level of fairness achieved by the use of the cream should be clearly mentioned. This should be supported with proofs from reliable dermatologists
The 8/10/12

advertisements should recommend