We have always seen that fairness has been promoted by the multinational companies as a tool to sell their beauty products; however, beauty of a person is never dependent on the colour of his/her skin and many people including the celebrities have also slammed these companies and their products.
Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali has gone to a new level and called dark complexion a skin ailment. The matter came into public when Karthik (Twitter handle @beastoftraal) uploaded a beauty cream advertisement of Patanjali in which the dark complexion was referred to as a skin ailment. As per the advertisement, the beauty product is extremely beneficial for skin ailments such as dry skin, dark complexion and wrinkles.
This is what the description of the beauty product ad reads,
“Possesses the benefits of wheat germ oil, turmeric, aloe-vera, and basil etc. which are extremely beneficial for skin ailments like dry skin, dark complexion and wrinkles. Patanjali beauty cream is not just another cream but is a skin nourishment tonic and treatment. It gives you the confidence of 100% natural beauty. Try it yourself and suggest to your family and friends.”
Karthik shared the pic with caption, “No Baba Ramdev… ‘dark complexion’ is NOT a skin ailment. Did Tarun Vijay write your ad?”
No Baba Ramdev… 'dark complexion' is NOT a skin ailment. Did Tarun Vijay write your ad? pic.twitter.com/laHsUVjFGL
— Karthik 🇮🇳 (@beastoftraal) January 8, 2018
In a series of tweets, Karthik wrote,
“For a brand that almost always starts its advertising by bad-mouthing ‘those MNC companies’ as looters and calls itself as ‘100% purity and 100% charity’ (the tactic sure seems to be working for them given their spectacular success in the recent past), Patanjali seems to be toeing the line of MNC beauty brands in framing dark skin as a problem. Only difference – MNC brands have, over time, become clever about how they state this in their communication. Here, Patanjali openly calls ‘dark complexion’ as a ‘skin ailment’. This is severely ironic given the number of people in India who are naturally born with the so-called ‘dark’ complexion. The other irony is that the so-called MNC made ‘dark complexion’ into a confidence/success problem and Patanjali, a proudly Indian brand, is continuing to use that message despite seemingly being against the ‘MNC’ brands.”
Here are the tweets:
For a brand that almost always starts its advertising by bad-mouthing 'those MNC companies' as looters and calls itself as '100% purity and 100% charity' (the tactic sure seems to be working for them given their spectacular success in the recent past), Patanjali seems to be
— Karthik 🇮🇳 (@beastoftraal) January 8, 2018
toeing the line of MNC beauty brands in framing dark skin as a problem. Only difference – MNC brands have, over time, become clever about how they state this in their communication. Here, Patanjali openly calls 'dark complexion' as a 'skin ailment'. This is severely ironic
— Karthik 🇮🇳 (@beastoftraal) January 8, 2018
given the number of people in India who are naturally born with the so-called 'dark' complexion. The other irony is that the so-called MNC made 'dark complexion' into a confidence/success problem and Patanjali, a proudly Indian brand, is continuing to use that
— Karthik 🇮🇳 (@beastoftraal) January 8, 2018
message despite seemingly being against the 'MNC' brands.
— Karthik 🇮🇳 (@beastoftraal) January 8, 2018
SK Gupta Tijarawala, the spokesperson of Patanjali, called it a translation error as he tweeted, “It’s just a translation error from the Hindi ad on the same product. The Hindi ad has no mention of the dark complexion.”
यह मात्र एक अनुवाद की गलती है हमारे हिन्दी के विज्ञापन में कहीं डार्क काम्प्लेक्शन का जिक्र नहीं है it's just a translation error from the Hindi ad on the same product. The Hindi ad has no mention of the dark complexion @CNNnews18 @beastoftraal @kitAnurag pic.twitter.com/1Wrdj6zKuL
— Tijarawala SK 🇮🇳 (@tijarawala) January 8, 2018
To this, Karthik tweeted, “Fair point. The Hindi version, from Amar Ujala says, ‘skin complexion’ (as one of the समस्याएं). But ‘complexion’ is merely the natural color, texture of human skin. If Patanjali treats it as a समस्या/problem, it’s no different from Fair & Lovely.”
Fair point. The Hindi version, from Amar Ujala says, 'skin complexion' (as one of the समस्याएं). But 'complexion' is merely the natural color, texture of human skin. If Patanjali treats it as a समस्या/problem, it's no different from Fair & Lovely. https://t.co/W0IcvgmKcy
— Karthik 🇮🇳 (@beastoftraal) January 9, 2018
However, Baba Ramdev and Patanjali got brutally thrashed on Twitter for their advertisement and some went on the extent of saying that Baba Ramdev should then first cure his skin ailment of dark complexion.
Check out some selected tweets:
Beauty is in mind:
Every advertiser should make Ad with responsibility and not to hurt any sentiments, half of Indians have dark skin and its not disease at all. Ads to make Fair skin must be banned here like other countries,
bcoz d real Beauty is in the Mind nd not in d Face…
— TEJASH NAYAK (@TEJASHNAYAK1) January 9, 2018
Test the cream on buffaloes first:
https://twitter.com/licensedtodream/status/950252381358325760
People responsible for this ad should be jailed:
Jail the CEO guy for discriminatory ad, and Baba for being a celebrity endorsing false promise 😂
— Ravi Vyas (@ravyas75) January 8, 2018
Baba should start using it:
https://twitter.com/fehmeenavoice/status/950368314651426816
Is his skin super white?
Outrageous. As if his skin is super white!
So he should sell it as a beauty thing instead of an ailment like the rest of the corporates? What you are saying his he needs a better ad agency and lawyers.
— Bala (@sbchandar) January 8, 2018
Any answer?
But an unruly and untidy beard definitely looks like an ailment. Does Patanjali has any solutions to that….???
— M (@ms290970) January 9, 2018
People demanded apology:
dear @yogrishiramdev, this is insane! correct this and apologize!
— vivek raj (@vivekbabaji) January 9, 2018
It’s not called promoting Indian culture:
@yogrishiramdev @Ach_Balkrishna no sir. You cannot say you are promoting Indian culture and knowledge by promising to reduce dark complexion. How is it different from fair n lovely, png & Unilever? Remove this immediately from all the products.
— Anurag Sahu – A nationalist. (@AnuragSahu88) January 9, 2018
Later Baba Ramdev tweeted, “We approved the word – ‘Skin Complications’ (त्वचा के विकार), which by error, got changed in translation/copy-writing. I always talked about maintaining natural beauty and never supported color discrimination.”
We approved the word – 'Skin Complications' (त्वचा के विकार), which by error, got changed in translation/copy-writing. I always talked about maintaining natural beauty and never supported color discrimination.
— स्वामी रामदेव (@yogrishiramdev) January 9, 2018
Thank you for the clarification.
— Karthik 🇮🇳 (@beastoftraal) January 9, 2018
What do you have to say in this connection? Let us know.
