My earliest memories of TV ads was this girl, whose skin tone resembled mine, looking upset. She had been rejected by a man who had come to ‘see her’ with his family – to select her as his bride. She failed the test for being ‘too dark’. A good friend\/or cousin hands her a tube of fair and lovely, which she uses diligently – and voila — the dark failure transforms into this fair girl who is now ‘saleable’ in the marriage market. The ad ended with the marriage ceremony. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The messaging was very clear – if you are dark, you will be left on the shelf. And, if you are fair you will find the man who wants to marry you. In a country obsessed with both fairness and marriage, the product worked wonders. There were many, many ads that were rolled out on this theme. All of them had the same storyline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n