'Fair' is not just a word

Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

'Fair and Lovely' are not just three words, an entire culture is behind them. A culture that gets new strength by criticism, and yet it continues to thrive. This is the culture of the market which was also at a time when the man was not as civilized and developed as it is today. From time to time, this market changed the meaning of many words or gave new references to them for its benefit. Everyone wants to succeed in life, he/she want to leave behind others in life, along with that, every human has a tendency of jealousy with others success. The market always tries to cash that human phycology and for that market planners adopt the aggressive strategy. Advertisement is an effective and easy weapon. The manufacturer of  ‘Fair and lovely’ uses that and establishes that the fair color is the real beauty and each girl has a natural right to look fair. 

‘Fair and lovely’ is a simple example of the characteristics of the market. To expend the customers, the market interfered with human standards and changed the language to create new standards. Such standards become the bases of new classifications of society. The word 'fair' is also similar. After the killing of a black man George Floyd in America by a white policeman, the word suddenly came up in the discussion after seeing the public discontent and agitation against apartheid all over the world. A cream selling whiteness announced the removal of the word 'fair' from its name, which led to further discussion about the term. Companies have to work for years to convert their product into a brand. No item is easily branded. ‘Fair and Lovely’, the name traveled over the years, riding the tongue of generations and transforming from a product to a culture.

The duality between whites and blacks is not new. This was not the first time in America. Its history is full of apartheid and violence. This has been happening in other European countries as well. There is no such issue in India because the distinction between white and black came to light here during the British rule. Before that, the color of the skin did not matter in India. Rama and Krishna are considered as black (Shyamavarna). There was a film named Gumnaam (1965) which had a song 'Hum Kale Hain To Kya Hua Dilwale hai' (what happened if I am black, but I have hart or I am a lover). So there was no such apartheid in India but after independence, we see that in our country also has increased attraction towards fair skin. Advertisements for marriage often show the demand for a white or fair color girl. This demand for 'Fair Color' was further reinforced in the mentality of the society by the Fair and Lovely advertisements which stated that the fair which is white is beautiful. This standard of beauty has had an impact on social structure also. We see that in the caste discrimination in Indian society, color is specifically mentioned many times.

However, if we look at the world fair, it has many meanings. The meaning that is usually taken is clean and non-discriminatory. It is often expected in the context of the government that it will take decisions without any discrimination in the public interest. However, this does not happen. The party which is in the government decides according to its political advantage. In common parlance, we often complain about differences, saying that it is not 'fair', means, it is not fair or right. In this way, a word manifests different meanings in different contexts. When we use the word ‘Fair’ in the sense of the beauty of females, the meaning changes and focused on the beauty of skin only.   However, we see new trends in the market that a lot of products come with a focus on male beauty, with a slogan ‘we also have right to beauty’ (Sundarata par Hamara Bhi Haqe Hai). The market of beauty has begun to change the image of masculinity. A new flavor of Fair has come out.

Therefore, it is not wrong to raise the question of whether the effect of the claims of making black skin white will be eliminated by removing the 'fair' word from ‘Fail and lovely’. In the midst of the apartheid prevailing in all the countries of Europe including America and the rising color of ethnicity in India, even though the name of Fair and Lovely has changed but the standard of beauty it has set, can it be changed? And will it change the mindset of a white wife or white daughter-in-law's aspiring society?