Have you always snootily figured that fairness creams are only for the lower-middle-class girls about to be put on the marriage market? Here?s an eye-opener: you are just the customer that the cosmetic industry is targeting. It?s getting ready to slather you with everything from fairness creams to fairness soaps, ?whitening? foam and all sorts of lotions. The cosmetic companies want your dressing-table to be crammed with fairness products.

Behind the aggressive new moves is the conviction that beneath her emancipated outlook, every Indian woman, whether she?s from Greater Kailash or Ghatkopar, Bangalore or Baliya,wants fairer skin. Call it the Snow White Syndrome.

So, how do you reach the upmarket lady who can afford to be a big spender? Take a look at Fair & Lovely, for instance. Over the years, it has built up a dedicated fan following among women who weren?t quite as fair as they?d have liked. Now Fair & Lovely has an upmarket partner that comes packaged with a smart ?international? look. The Fair & Lovely Perfect Radiance range looks almost as if it?s been produced by a Paris-based maker of exclusive beauty treatments. With sleek packaging and smart marketing and positioning, the range has moved miles away from the frumpy, down-market image of Fair & Lovely fairness cream.

A spokesman from HLL, which owns the brand says, ?Perfect Radiance targets women among the top 1 per cent of the Indian population by income, who often use imported skincare products and prefer a full regime solution.? The face of the new range is the luminescent Soha Ali Khan and it probably isn?t a coincidence that she comes from an almost aristocratic background.

It isn?t only the packaging and advertising that?s been given an upmarket edge. The sales approach has also been tweaked to confer exclusivity and an upmarket appeal with special counters at select outlets in top metros.? Beauty advisors there help consumers choose the right product for them.

Other cosmetic companies are not far behind. Garnier, the French company that had so far restricted itself to hair-care products and anti-wrinkle creams, has come up with its Garnier Skin Naturals Light range. L?Or?al, makers of professional hair colour, has its White Perfect range and calls its face wash the ?Whitening facial foam?. If that isn?t enough, its face cream comes advertised as ?Triple Whitening Moisturising Cream?.

They aren?t the only ones who claim to have found a way to outsmart nature. Modi Revlon has the Revlon Absolutes Whitening cream and lotion, and an advanced fairness lotion and cream. Lakm? has the Sun Expert range that doesn?t claim to make you fairer but does prevent tanning and darkening.

The diva of Indian beauty secrets, Shahnaz Hussain, has also hit upon fairness as a winning bet. The newly launched Fair One, though manufactured by Elder Pharmaceuticals, comes with the Shahnaz Hussain promise attached to it and is based on a herbal solution for fairer skin formulated by her. ?The aim was to offer a product with natural ingredients that help lighten skin colour as well as nourish and revitalise the skin,? she says.

Fair One?s new ad campaign also seeks to differentiate it from other fairness creams claiming to have the power to change the user?s quality of life by making her fairer. Fair One calls itself a beauty product ? sidestepping the political correctness controversies that fairness cream ads have been generating for some time.

That, in fact, is the way most of the new brands are going. One only has to see Garnier?s Skin Naturals Light ad to see that the brand is aiming at a very different woman from the one, traditionally, fairness creams tried to appeal to. The model used in the Garnier ad is young and trendy ? and clearly, unapologetic about using a fairness product.

Naturally, the approach towards the marketing and advertising of these new products has been different. Says Pranesh Mishra, COO of ad agency Lowe which handles both the Fair & Lovely and Perfect Radiance accounts, ?The advertising route taken for Perfect Radiance was bound to be different from the one used for the older brand. As it?s aimed at higher income users, advertising was mainly through the English print media.?

That fairness is fair game in the Indian beauty market has long been a universally acknowledged fact. The beauty products market is reckoned to be worth around Rs 4,500 crore. And, of that, about Rs 800 crore is spent on fairness products. Nevertheless, there?s a downside. Some of the newer segments like hair colour and after-wash hair conditioners are booming and climbing by over 20 per cent to 30 per cent. However, the growth in the fairness segment has plateaued. That?s why the companies are looking for ways to boost sales.

Users, for one, are not complaining. Says 26-year-old Somali Sinha, who is open to trying new brands if they deliver their promise of fairness, ?In India, a fairer complexion spells a better complexion. That?s what most people believe. And for working women, who have to be out in the sun for long hours, tanning is also a problem. So I don?t see what?s wrong with using a fairness cream, though I?d prefer one that gives me other benefits besides just removing a tan or making the skin lighter.?

That?s where the new products are packing their punch. Perfect Radiance, for instance, has 12 products currently, divided into three categories ? cleansing, daily care and special care ? with products that range from a face wash to ?cleanse and lighten? and a face mask that promises to ?deep clean and lighten? to a ?repair and lighten night nourish cream?. While the products are meant to take care of a daily skin care regimen, the bottom line remains that magic word: lighten.

According to Hussain, ?Fairness creams cannot replace the normal beauty routine, which is a must. Cleansers, toners and so on perform specific functions, which are absolutely necessary. Depending on the ingredients, a fairness cream can help to moisturise and nourish the skin. For instance, Fair One contains ingredients like saffron, honey, apricot oil, cucumber and lemon distillate. As such, the product helps to lighten colour, remove tan, counteract sun damage, moisturise and nourish the skin.?

The sheer numbers of products that claim to bestow fairness are staggering. Fair & Lovely alone has many sub-brands under its umbrella, from an ayurvedic version to an under-eye cream and an anti-marks variety. This apart, other brands sell fairness soaps, face washes, scrubs, moisturisers, wipe-off lotions and even a fairness pedicure cream.

In fact, today, the chances are, no matter which beauty product you pick up, the fairness promise comes along. Whether it?s No Marks, an anti-blemish cream supposed to help lighten skin, to fairness face packs from Dabur Vatika, products across all categories are trying to cash in on the fairness fever.

That?s not all. Even high-end beauty salons and clinics are offering fairness packages, so it?s clearly not a need restricted to a specific socio-economic group. Says dermatologist Dr Rekha Subramanian, ?Both men and women openly acknowledge their need to look fairer. Almost 80 per cent of those who come to me for any kind of treatment, also ask for a formula to make them fairer.?

Even the sultans of the good-looks game have cashed in on the sub-continental obsession with fairness. International beauty giants like Elizabeth Arden and Vichy Laboratories have started selling their fairness products at exclusive counters at upmarket cosmetics stores such as Health and Glow in Bangalore and CRS Health in Delhi. Vichy?s line of skin-lightening products includes an ?Intensive Whitening Corrective Care? cream that reduces melanin production and lightens brown spots, a ?Whitening Hydrating Liquid? and a ?UV Whitening Protection Fluid?. Priced at Rs 800 onwards for a single tube, these products are finding ready customers, says a Health and Glow employee.

Far from receding with a better economy and greater confidence among Indians, the obsession with fairness seems to be on a constant upswing, says Dr Subramanian. ?I see no signs of people being satisfied with their skin colour. If anything, more money has meant more purchasing power to get a ?better? complexion,? she admits.

In this scenario, it?s hardly any surprise that the cosmetic companies are milking the fairness cow for all it?s worth? All?s fair in war, as they say, and for the brands fighting out there for a share of this lucrative market, it?s no less than full-scale battle.

Photograph by Subhendu Chaki
Model: Pamela Singh Bhutoria
Products courtesy: The Royal Store, New Market

The fairness factor

Melanin, the pigment responsible for the darkening of the skin, is produced deep in the skin by melanocytes, melanin producing cells. The melanin is then transferred to the adjacent skin cells by a process called melanin load. Exposure to the sun makes the melanocytes produce more melanin, which leads to darkening or tanning.

Therefore, the key ingredient of all fairness preparations is a chemical agent that reduces the melanin production. But the list of natural ingredients used in these products reads almost like a shopping list with a long stop at the grocers. From the ayurvedically-proven turmeric and saffron to milk (Cleopatra’s beauty secret), honey, cucumber and lemon to exotic ingredients that sound good enough to eat. Plants extracts abound, from rosemary and chamomile to Indian berberry, lavender and seaweed. Even sesame and groundnuts can help make one fair, if one were to go by the claims of some herbal beauty products. Fruit extracts are also popular from watermelons and oranges to kiwis and winter cherry.

As for flowers, if nature made them, fairness creams have them. From the Indian hibiscus to the English white willow, all find fair representation.