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Telling India’s Modern Women They Have Power, Even Over Their Skin Tone

New Delhi : The modern Indian woman is independent, in charge — and does not have to live with her dark skin.

That is the message from a growing number of global cosmetics and skin care companies, which are expanding their product lines and advertising budgets in India to capitalize on growth in women’s disposable income. A common thread involves creams and soaps that are said to lighten skin tone. Often they are peddled with a “power” message about taking charge or getting ahead.

Avon, L’Oréal, Ponds, Garnier, the Body Shop and Jolen are selling lightening products and all of them face stiff competition from a local giant, Fair and Lovely, a Unilever product that has dominated the market for decades.

Fair and Lovely, with packaging that shows a dark-skinned unhappy woman morphing into a light-skinned smiling one, once focused its advertising on the problems a dark-skinned woman might face finding romance. In a sign of the times, the company’s ads now show lighter skin conferring a different advantage: helping a woman land a job normally held by men, like announcer at cricket matches. “Fair and Lovely: The Power of Beauty,” is the tagline on the company’s newest ad.

Not surprisingly, the rush to sell skin-lightening products has drawn some criticism, with people saying that the products are at best unsavory and that they reinforce dangerous prejudices.

When Unilever markets Fair and Lovely, it “doesn’t cause bias,” but it does make use of it, said Aneel G. Karnani, a professor with the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan who earned a business degree in India.

Global cosmetics companies — which also sell skin-lightening products throughout Asia and in the United States, where they are marketed as spot or blemish removers — argue that they are just giving Indian women what they want.

Taking offense at the products is “a very Western way of looking at the world,” said Ashok Venkatramani, who is in charge of the skin care category at Unilever’s Indian unit, Hindustan Lever. “The definition of beauty in the Western world is linked to anti-aging,” he said. “In Asia, it’s all about being two shades lighter.”

Sales of Fair and Lovely have been growing 15 to 20 percent year over year, Mr. Venkatramani said.

Skin-lightening products are by far the most popular product in India’s fast-growing skin care market, so manufacturers say they ignore them at their peril. The $318 million market for skin care has grown by 42.7 percent since 2001, says Euromonitor International, a research firm.

Source : Nytimes.com

Add comment May 30th, 2007

HLL changes name to Hindustan Unilever

The issue of mercury contamination led to soaring temperatures at the 74th annual general meeting of fast moving consumer goods major Hindustan Lever Limited. While social activism peaked outside the venue, inside , shareholder activism gained momentum as shareholders took the FMCG major to task on issues ranging from the mercury pollution in the pristine environs of Kodaikanal in Tamilnadu to changing the name to Hindustan Unilever Limited.
 
HLL had set up a mercury thermometer production unit in the state in the 1980s, but the environmental impact has stirred up a controversy. HLL Chairman Harish Manwani denied these allegations, and said that the samples from the state have been sent to laboratories in the US and the company has come clean.
 
In his speech, which was in stark contrast to the protests outside the venue, Manwani highlighted the need for integrating corporate social responsibility with business. Quoting research by global research firm, Globe Scan across 23 countries, Manwani said that over 60 per cent of the consumers took social and environmental factors into account while choosing a brand.
 
The speech titled “Brands at the forefront of social change” elaborated on Unilever implementing a new process called Brand Imprint—that helps brands measure and identify the social, economic and environmental impact caused by brands. “The brands then operate in a space that is truly a win-win. They have a positive impact on society while being good for the business. This sharply defined space is the source of sustainable competitive advantage,” said Manwani.
 
“HLL and parent Unilever are evaluating on how to implement the process of earning carbon credits,” Manwani told shareholders.
 
He said that HLL has introduced a voluntary restriction not to directly target children below six as evidence suggests that this age group finds it difficult to distinguish between TV programming and advertising especially in the foods category.
Commenting on the growth prospects of the company, Manwani took a dig at the competition as he said that “our Rs 1,000-crore growth in 2006 itself was equal to the total annual turnover of many of our key competitors.”
 
He said that the company would continue to invest in advertising and promotions keeping in mind the nature of the competition, as long as the affect of ad spends trickle down to have a positive effect on operating margins.

Source : business-standard.com

Add comment May 19th, 2007