Here we go again! Shah Rukh Khan, who is riding high over the success of his film Chennai Express, is now in trouble for endorsing the fairness cream 'Fair and Handsome'.
Dark is Beautiful campaign
Nandita Das, who is bent on changing the mindsets of the color-conscious people of the country is leading a campaign to discourage this. In her site, she writes about how she is always referenced by her skin color as the 'dusky' or 'earthy' actress by even the best of journalists.
'Dark Is Beautiful' led by her, is asking the public to sign a petition at their site.
The petition is as follows:
1. We ask Emami to take down the Fair and Handsome ad and to also focus on promoting healthy skin.
2. We ask Shah Rukh Khan, Situations Advertising, and Canvas Films to promote responsible advertising.
The petition is also filed against Raj Kumar Hirani, as he is associated with Canvas Films involved in making of the Ad film.
Here is Nandita talking about the fairness issue:
Bollywood stars in Fairness Ads
It is good to know that there is some initiative taken for this annoying social evil. It seems that Bollywood stars are usually insensitive to this issue as they are often seen promoting such products. Even Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra, who are ambassadors of global social platforms such as UNICEF, have been taken in by this fairness wave.
It is surprising to see that the most-influential stars of B-town have been associated with fairness products, some of them being:
-Aishwarya Rai & Sonam Kapoor for L'oreal
-Priyanka Chopra for Ponds White Beauty
-Deepika Padukone for Neutrogena
-Katrina Kaif for Olay
the list goes on..
Celebs who have said NO to endorsing Fairness products
Ranbir Kapoor, Bipasha Basu and Abhay Deol are some of the celebs who have had the good sense to say no to this kind of endorsing.
Ranbir had mentioned that he does not wish to endorse products that made racist stereotypes grow stronger roots. Abhay Deol, on the other hand, had gone to the extent of quoting, "I'll never sell a fairness cream. It's terrible and only shows our inferiority complex. I'd rather endorse a cream that makes one look dark and sexy!".
The Big Question
What are your thoughts on the petition and the movement against this 'fairness drive'? Should our stars behave in a more socially responsible manner when it comes to endorsements?