Abstract

The fairness cream market is flourishing in India, a country that represents a unique amalgamation of social, religious, and cultural stigmas and stereotypes. For the last three decades, consumer goods giant Unilever/Hindustan Lever (HLL) has successfully leveraged business opportunities inherent in India's obsession with lighter skin tones with the launch of Fair & Lovely, considered to be the leading fairness cream in the Indian subcontinent. The goal of this paper is to take a closer look at the issues related to skin color in India by analysing how Fair & Lovely skin-whitening cream is situated in the context of Indian culture, is fetishized through media, and is distributed to consumers.

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