Fairest of Them All
Tomya Williams
Professor Anna Voisard
Writing for the Sciences
27th February 2023
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 use this fact to take advantage of the audience and make money. 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. The rhetorical appeal, Logos, is also used in the commercial. They include images of how the product can make a person’s skin tone lighter to successfully achieve their desired results and list multiple vitamins. By listing the various kinds of vitamins found in the skin cream and displaying the images of the girl’s skin tone getting lighter and lighter, they convince the audience to buy the product by using science. They also place the function of each vitamin listed, showing the audience that what they are saying is backed by science and they can trust them. 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 persuades them into buying it.
From the commercial anyone can see that the brand is colorist as they believe having a certain skin color (lighter skin tone) will guarantee your success. They portray people with darker skin tones as being at a disadvantage and that their product can help people to gain an advantage in life. They use many rhetorical techniques such as logos and pathos to persuade their audience. The rhetorical techniques used in their advertisements and the social issues that exist in the audiences they have targeted is what continues to make them a multibillion dollar industry.
Citations
Fair and Lovely Skin Cream Ad (in English). (2007, April 09). Retrieved February 27, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIUQ5hbRHXk
