Rituparna: “Bengalis must realise that looking good is most important”

The Indian obsession with fair, flawless skin is peaking in Bengal, if the profile of regional advertising is the body of evidence.

Bengali TV channels carry more advertisements of beauty products than their counterparts in any other region, according to a nationwide survey conducted by Adex India, a division of TAM Media Research. Bengal’s beauty ads account for 20 per cent of the total cosmetics advertising.

“Beauty products and jewellery advertisements earn a major chunk of our revenue,” says Rajib Chatterjee, the senior vice-president and business head of Zee Bangla.

Bengal constitutes “eight to 10 per cent of the national market for any beauty product”, making it a market “no one can afford to ignore”, stresses Aditya Agarwal, the director of Emami Group of Companies. For the Calcutta-based beauty product maker, the pop picks nationally are Navratna oil, with sales worth Rs 200 crore, and Boroplus, with a Rs 125-crore market, of which Bengal brings in six to eight per cent.

The Bengali-beauty nexus goes further, with Bolly biggie Sushmita Sen endorsing the most beauty products in the country, according to the Adex India survey.

But Tollywood star Rituparna Sengupta feels regional ads are tapping into a potential rather than an existing market. “People here are not very aware. It’s important for Bengalis to realise that looking good is most important and these ads help spread awareness among women who have little exposure to beauty products and treatments,” she says.

Growing sales may indicate that the flood of communication is working. “The demand for skincare products has gone up in the past two years,” says Naveen Misra of Shoppers Stop. “Working people between 25 and 40 are the most aware.”

Predictably, looking good often means looking fairer, with the ad spend on fairness creams leading face creams and moisturising lotions.

“We have noticed that Calcutta’s men and women buy more whitening products,” says Meeta Awatramani, a training manager with cosmetics brand Clarins India.