Indians want to be white:Freida Pinto

In an interview to a British newspaper, Freida Pinto has said, "It's just this thing that people (in India) are so fascinated by white skin."

She referred to the half-a-dozen or so fairness cream ads and added, "If a cream can give you confidence, then you really have to check your whole confidence department in the first place." With these words, Pinto has directed international attention to the elephant in the room, or, well, the elephant in our entire country. Oh Freida, in India, a fairness cream isn't just a key to confidence or beauty, it has the power to make you an air hostess or a star reporter, and it's your only hope if you want to get married. They are your new-age fairy godmothers.

Fairness ads ok, deo ads not?

Britain recently banned a makeup ad that showed celebs like Julia Roberts several shades lighter, because "it promote(s) unrealistic expectations of appropriate body image". In sharp contrast, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) recently banned three deo ads for causing, "grave and widespread offence," and because they were "misleading and demeaning." It's disturbing that an ad that shows women as sexual beings causes grave and widespread offence, while one that shows a woman needing a fairness cream to gain the approval of her family, her future husband and the rest of society does not. When Aishwary Rai Bachchan's skin tone was said to have been lightened on a magazine cover, the international media went ballistic – and Indians cried, 'Racist!' – a little ironic, considering back home we openly declare our love for all things fair and wonderful.

The jury is still out

Adman Bharat Dabholkar says, "Obsession with fairness exists in Indian society, and is given a boost by all these ads. It's as demeaning as the deo ads. While deo ads get banned, fairness cream ads are there for men too now. So they demean both men and women. Actors too, put a lot of make-up and look many shades fairer. The companies should ask themselves, 'Do we really want to earn money by demeaning the dusky Indian skin?'"

Ad industry expert Manish Porwal says, "It is a cultural context. Fairness as a concept is rooted in racism. In India, it's not about racism. It's age old even while it may not be correct. It's about our belief that being beautiful is about being fair, so it's not always considered a misrepresentation of women. The deo issue was about ads which were explicit and stupid, and said that you could put a deo and women would fall in bed with you. If Freida says fairness is a problem, it's not something she discovered. But is it a more important problem? I'd say it's a more strategic problem than deos.

Are celebs fair role models?

Pinto isn't the first. Ash too, had pointed out India's fairness obsession to Oprah Winfrey on her chat show, where she also said she woud never endorse a fairness cream. But for each B-Town celeb who says nay, there are ten others who say yay! In fact, says Freida, "There's a lot of people there who are naturally really pale. But the idea that you have to be fair – there are actors who admit it – the fairer you are, the easier it is."