India’s leading manufacturer of herbal products an Baba Ramdev’s brain child Patanjali just went full retard with the advertisement for it’s new line of herbal and natural cosmetics “Saundarya”. Just when we thought nothing could be worse than those Fair and Lovely ads that fanned the flames of obsession of Indians with white skin and openly promoted racism and skin bias, Patanjali came up with an ad does exactly that but also manages to shove sanskar and parampara down our throats. Here’s a complete breakdown of the ad:
Meet Saundarya and Aishwarya:
Just when you thought that a fairness cream ad couldn’t get worse, you realize that the ad has a hidden agenda of ridiculing all things ‘modern’ and bindaas. The introduction of the two sisters alone is problematic on so many levels. Saundarya, is the sister who follows parampara while Aishwarya is, wait for it, ek dum bindaas wanna be type girl.
Yes, the voice over actually called Aishwarya a “wanna be type” girl. Like we get that the aim is to glorify Saundarya, the prototype and human embodiment of sanskaar and maryaada and ridicule Aishwarya who is cool and bindaas, but if there were any points for subtlety, this ad won’t get any.
Surprise! Aishwarya has skin problems:
Because of her bindaas and ‘cool’ attitude sans any inclination towards sanskaar, Aishwarya develops skin problems. Right-wing campaigning done right.
Bindaas girl hui pareshaan:
Owing to her skin problems, Aishwarya becomes a subject of mockery in her college. Her make-up and artificiality make her the butt of jokes while Saundarya, who has flawless white skin is hailed as the Queen of college and is showered with praises.
Time and again fairness cream ads have followed the same narrative. 2 girls, one with dark skin and the other with white skin are all set to conquer the world. While the white-skinned girl becomes successful and is showered with praises, the dark skinned girl is often frowned at and faces difficulties in her career, all because of her skin color.
The idea here is to create a complex among women owing to their dark skin which would urge them to buy their products. Not only do these fairness cream ads add to the insecurity of millions of dark skinned girls, but they promote skin bias which is borderline racist.
Please buy our product if you don’t wanna end up like Aishwarya did:
If you’re a dark skinned girl please buy Patanjali products if you don’t want to have the same fate as Aishwarya. And thousands of young girls will now be scared into buying Patanjali’s less than useful products because they feel insecure of their skin color.
The narrative chosen by Patanjali, a product line that claims to be “pure” and “natural” is sick and downright disgusting. Not only does it promote skin lightening, but also pits women against each other (in this case, sisters) who compete to be the fairest of all.
All in all, it’s high time we banned such pathetic and less than smart ads that pry on women’s insecurities and pit them against each other.
Baba Ramdev, are you listening?
