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"There's not one single guy who admits to being dark and attractive, they just say we are whitish and fair."

- Jerry Pinto
Man's World Magazine

Marketing Waves

In June 2005, an advertisement appeared in most of the TV channel wherein a teenage boy slinks into a girls' hostel to steal a pack of a fairness cream. Shooed away, after being almost caught, he is hided by his friend who advises him to get his own fairness cream, meant for males. The young man actually procures one, uses it and turns out to be `fair and handsome.'

Indian Fairness Cream Market: Background & Current Scenario

In the earlier times, the market for fairness products was not at all developed as people love to use homemade products only viz. besan, multani mitti, curd, egg yolk etc. because we Indians have been under a strong influence of herbal products and have habit of using "Desi Nuskhe".

After modernization and globalization different companies felt the changing life style and started selling their fairness products under the categories of Talcum Powder, sunscreen lotions, vanishing creams, cold creams etc.

It was in 1975, when Hindustan Lever Limited (a subsidiary of Unilever) launched its first fairness cream under the brand name of 'Fair and Lovely'. The dominance of HLL's 'Fair & Lovely' continued till 1998, when Cavin Kare launched a fairness cream with a brand name 'Fairever' targeted directly against 'Fair & Lovely'. 'Fairever' also proved a big success, captured more than 6% of market share within six months of its launch.

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* Contributed by: -
Kunal Gaurav,
Research Scholar,
ICFAI Institute for Management Teachers, Hyderabad.