DRAFT
Tomya Williams
Writing for the Sciences
Professor Anna Voisard
21st February 2023
Fairest of them all
In 2009, the company Unilever’s “Fair and Lovely’ released a commercial for their skin cream. The commercial begins with a young woman whose dream job is to be a reporter but is constantly rejected for the position. She states that at her fourth job interview she realized the major obstacle that is causing her to fail. That obstacle is the color of her skin. A male narrator then describes the product, which is a skin cream packed with many vitamins and when it is used by the consumers, it will help them to achieve ‘total’ fairness. After using this product, the woman’s complexion gets lighter and she gets the job and even a date with her coworker. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the commercial describing the rhetorical techniques used by the advertisers.
The skin lightening industry is a multibillion-dollar industry. Skin lightening is widespread throughout the world especially in Asia. Fair and lovely is one of many companies dominating the skin lightening market right now. India’s colorism as well as the rest of Asia, goes way back to the colonial period when the Europeans ruled and their beauty standards replaced those of the land they inhibited. Spreading throughout Asia as well as the rest of the world. India’s colorism can also be because of Hinduism’s caste system. The caste system is a social hierarchy that determines a person’s future including their careers and the person they are permitted to marry. Those higher in the caste system generally had lighter skin than those in the lower caste. Members of the lower caste generally did work outdoors in the sun, while those in higher caste had jobs indoor. Long hours exposed to the sun caused their skin to darken.
In a country where people with lighter skin tones are treated better, and lighter skin is believed to be attractive and an advantage to people, it is obvious to see why this company is thriving. The intended audience for this commercial is people with dark skin specifically women with dark complexions. The purpose of this commercial is to advertise the ‘miracle’ product that will help the users to achieve their desirable skin color. The commercial has a lighthearted and cheerful mood. It’s upbeat music and visuals relaxes the audience and portrays skin lightening as something that is good. This shows that the company doesn’t see a problem with advertising this product. It makes sense why they wouldn’t see anything wrong with this because of their audience. They know their audience is made to believe, and a large percent strongly believes, that having lighter skin will benefit them and they may have experienced the same fate the woman in the commercial had before her transformation. They also use conventionally attractive people in their commercial. This causes the audience to think, if they are using this product then I should too.
The commercial makes use of pathos as it evokes a range of emotion such as anger, sadness, happiness and hope depending on who is watching the advertisement. It may cause happiness and hope for those who see their dark skin as being a burden. They want to be a better, more attractive and successful version of themselves and this commercial shows their consumers how beneficial this product is. On the other hand, it may cause angry and sadness for people who are knowledgeable on the problems that may arise because of this ad. When introducing the skin cream the narrator says the phrase ‘total fairness’, he then repeats it again at the end of the commercial. The repetition of this phrase by the narrator really draws the audience’s attention to the effectiveness of the product and persuading them into buying it. From the commercial anyone can see that the brand is colorist as they believe having a certain skin color(light skin) will guarantee your success. They portray people with darker skin tones as being at a disadvantage.
