Skin Bleaching in South Asia: a Remaining Vestige of Colonialism

This was written by Tishitha, one of our student interns. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue.

As a kid, I remember seeing countless advertisements for products that claimed to lighten one’s skin. They were everywhere in India; the advertisements showed up constantly on television, in newspapers and magazines, on billboards. Skin bleaching has grown to be a major issue worldwide. In 2020 alone, $8.6 billion was spent globally on skin lightening products, with $2.3 billion of that coming from the United States. The market is projected to reach a whopping $12.3 billion by 2027. The products used in this industry have proven to contain ingredients, such as mercury, that are very harmful to one’s health, yet the market for them grows bigger every day. 

Skin bleaching refers to the use of substances to reduce melanin concentration in the skin and lighten the complexion. This is not a new trend; the idea of skin lightening has been around for centuries. Perhaps the most popular example was during the Victorian era. Venetian ceruse, a skin whitener based on lead, was the most sought after formula for the signature porcelain complexion wealthy Europeans craved. Pale skin, by this point, had become associated with wealth. Only the wealthy could afford to not work long hours in the sun and avoid the tan that came with this laborious work. But these ideals only existed in Europe. Until colonization, when colonizers introduced the idea of pale skin being superior as well as multiple diseases to the rest of the world.

Speaking specifically about South Asia, the British modified the caste system and reset our entire society to revolve around whiteness. They taught South Asians that fair skin and a proximity to whiteness makes you superior. They chose only fair-skinned individuals to work with them as allies and gave them privileges that dark-skinned individuals did not get. Furthermore, they associated the upper castes, mainly Brahmins and Kshatriyas, with light skin and lower castes, mainly Dalits, with darker skin. This standard was only furthered as Dalits were forced to do manual labor in the hot sun, which only made them tan more. Even now, almost 74 years (which wasn’t that long ago) after British rule in India has ended, the inferiority associated with dark skin remains. 

Nowadays, fairness is still associated with a higher social standard, with being more attractive, and with being desired. Colorism, or discrimination based on skin color, remains very prevalent in society, something best seen when looking at Bollywood. Bollywood films regularly follow the narrative that fair skin is leagues better than dark skin. Every protagonist is pale and fair-skinned, the backup dancers in dance sequences are white, and the actors themselves often promote skin-lightening products.

In the past, advertisements for skin-lightening products relied solely on colorism. They promoted the idea that having fair skin would lead to economic success, to financial gains, to a happy marriage. Now, after globalization and the new era of feminism, these products rely on consumerism. They blatantly use corporate feminism to sell their products. For example, Fair and Lovely, the brand whose advert was the picture at the top of this page, likes to promote fair skin as empowering. They suggest that it will lead you to success. They suggest that to achieve their dreams, women must first have fair skin. All this propaganda has led to a mental health crisis, especially among young women. 

Fortunately, there are small signs of progress being shown. In 2014, the Advertising Standards Council of India issued new guidelines, stating that advertisements should not “communicate any discrimi­nation as a result of skin color”, “reinforce negative social stereotyping on the basis of skin color”, or associate darker or lighter color skin with any particular socioeconomic strata, caste, community, religion, profession or ethnicity”.  Furthermore, individuals speaking out against cases of colorism are becoming more and more common. While the issue of skin bleaching is far from gone, we seem to be seeing more and more cases of individuals going against societal standards and embracing their skin tone.