Look what they did to your face

A new Facebook application by a skincare brand allows users to lighten the skin tone on their profile pictures. FYI asks whether it's an effective marketing tool or just a cheap gimmick that reinforces racist stereotypes

Skincare brand Vaseline has launched a global Facebook (FB) application targetted at men, which allows them to lighten their profile pictures.

The process is fairly simple: the user clicks on the link, uploads his picture, chooses the desired skin tone and viola! The picture can then be published to the user's FB page with the option of entering the site's Hall of Fame.

The site has amassed over 1,000 fans within a fortnight and boasts of more than 8,000 active users, several of whom are Indian.

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The international media, including UK-based The Guardian and US-based Wall Street Journal, has articles panning the application, terming it "racist" and "unfair". Critics see the move as reinforcing racist stereotypes apart from encouraging people to use products that might carry as-yet-unknown health risks.

In comparison, the Indian media has remained largely silent on the issue, perhaps because we are now immune to ads promoting fairness creams, especially given how most are endorsed by top Bollywood stars.

A statement issued by Vaseline reads: "Much like self-tanning products in North America, skin-lightening products are culturally relevant in India to lighten and even out the natural skin tone.

The application was created for the Indian market as a culturally relevant and engaging way for Indian men to interact with this product."

But not everyone is ready to buy into that explanation. "It is demeaning to equate beauty with fairness," says clinical psychologist H'vovi Bhagwagar, adding that fairness is a big issue, even among the educated urban population.

"Instead of moving away from stereotypes based on skin colour, we are getting them further entrenched into our mindsets," says H'vovi who predicts that at least 90% of the target audience is likely to check out the application, though they might be reluctant to admit it.

"Don't forget that FB is also a major marriage market where people choose someone based on their physical appearance," says H'vovi. "People still airbrush their pictures before sending it to prospective partners," she adds.

While the reason for India's obsession with fairness is still unclear, H'vovi claims it might have taken root during the British era when power or the lack of it seemed to be solely determined by the colour of one's skin.

Stereotypes concerning fair-skinned people being more talented and capable were likely to have been encouraged at the time. Today, the same mindset seems to have manifested itself, but in a different way.

Interestingly, with fairness cream ads being targetted at men as well as women, fairness is now being equated with success in the workplace apart from just 'good looks'.

However, discrimination is known to rear its ugly head in the job market as well. "I know of cases where people were rejected on the basis of their looks and skin colour. There are HR managers who hire only fair people for jobs that require people to socialise," observes H'vovi.

Ethical issues aside, the market for fairness products is a highly lucrative one and is estimated to be worth 500 million dollars a year in India, according to market research group Nielsen. Last year alone, sales of products for men grew by 25% and 17% for women.

So, is the application likely to be a success? "It targets the right demographic by using a social networking site like FB to promote a product.

It will succeed in differentiating itself from rival products in the market," says Amit Ahuja, marketing professional for an Internet Service Provider. "But it could boomerang and the negative reactions on the site could end up damaging the brand," reasons Amit.

Finally however what it is likely to come down to is the attention span of the audience. Says Amit, "Audience attention is limited and people will soon move on to the next big thing."

User comments from the site
Tarun Sareen: "Simply racist, we don't need your black or white criteria."
Manit Malhotra: "Yaar jab bhi me koi photo capture karta hun, I clean my picture from your application."
Madhi Maran: "Yet another example that shows that Indians are the most racist people in the world. And you thought it was the Nazis!"
Kishore Jadhav: "It's super, I love this."

What do you think of the app?
Sonu Sood, actor
What's the use of something that will not last and is skin-deep? It's misguiding. Be proud and comfortable in your own skin.

Barkha Bisht, TV actor
I have a dusky complexion and am against using fairness creams. I had people insinuate that I'd get more work if I were fairer, but I have proved them wrong. Facebook should scrap the application.

Harshad Karmalkar, entrepreneur
To each his own, but this seems like it's payback time for all the men who insisted that women must be fair and never bothered looking at themselves.

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