In the history of Indian Advertisements, we have seen many ads that have objectified women and shown racist remarks. Brands like Fair ‘n’ lovely have caused insecurity to all Indian women and men. In the beauty space, we have many racist and sexiest ads such as skin fairness creams ads that got approved and were aired.
Advertisements are a mirror of the common ideologies of the society that keeps us connected and leaves an impact on the people. One thing that has been normal in most Indian advertisements crossing over various times is the stereotyping of women and racist comments. These backward Indian advertisements show how we have a background marked by racism and misogyny.
We have listed the absolute worst advertisements in the past years.
Ponds Fairness Cream, starring Priyanka Chopra and Saif Ali Khan
In this two-part commercial, a dark skin toned Priyanka Chopra is dating Saif Ali Khan, but he leaves her. Years after the fact she spots him with another lady (played by Neha Dhupia) where he's immensely successful. She then, at that point, chooses to win him back with a ponds fairness cream that will make her ‘white beauty.
Fair ‘n’ Lovely Air Hostress Ad
This advertisement will make our heads spin with rage. A young girl uses fairness cream to get a job as an air hostess to work on her family's monetary conditions. How pathetic does it sound? This ad simply implies that dark-toned women can’t be employed and women are supposed to be fair to get jobs.
Fair n lovely Ad, starring Ashwariya Rai and Mahima Choudhary
Before she was worth the effort, Aishwarya featured in a fairness cream commercial suggesting her younger sister, Mahima Chaudhary to start using fair ‘n’ lovely cream to glow like a new bride and to land a spouse as she did.
Head & Shoulder Ad
This Head and Shoulders commercial warned men to stop using women's products as it will take away their masculinity.
Their slogan was: Stop. Before you stop being a man.
Kellogg K Special Ad, starring Lara Dutta
This Kellogg's commercial showed a lady getting in shape since she needed to attend a wedding and reinforced the ‘perfect body’ thought.
Snickers Chocolate, starring Sonam Kapoor
This advertisement showed that every irritating habit is related to women. It conveyed the possibility that heroines are the ones irritating and throwing tantrums with its tagline: Tujhe bhookh lagti hai toh tu heroine ban jata hai.
These are the few advertisements that are exacerbating the flaws in society and such commercials add fuel to the fire.
Fair ‘n’ Lovely
Another pathetic ad from the fair n lovely brand, the ad clearly shows the incapability of women because of their dark skin. This altogether spins our heads with fury as a woman needs to be fair and beautiful to land a job. This is totally absurd and illogical.
Fastrack Ad
The ad by Fastrack company makes no sense. They could have done it way better by using different means. In order to attract audience attention, using the biases and misogynistic approach is not cool. For effective communication to happen, a light sense of rumor should be used. In India where still a huge majority of men hold misogynistic views, circulating such ads accelerates these kinds of thoughts.
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