At a time when some well-known names in Bollywood have no qualms about endorsing fairness creams, actor Anushka Sharma has declared that she would never promote such products.
“I would not endorse products that propagate racist and sexiest (beliefs) and propagate social taboo. I don’t want to endorse products that propagate fair skin and all. I will not propagate anything that says this is right or wrong,” Sharma told reporters at an event.
Leading shampoo brand, Pantene, has appointed Sharma as their brand ambassador and the 27-year-old actress is happy and proud to be associated with the hair care product owned by FMCG major Procter & Gamble.
“We have to look good, our hair does get damaged due to straightening… tonging. We have to do something that helps our hair look good and healthy. While I was shooting for NH 10 , my hair had to look dirty in the film, to improve the texture quality of hair I had to use a lot of conditioner,” she said, dwelling on benefits of using shampoo.
Recently the Queen of Bollywood, Kangana Ranaut also rejected a Rs 2 Crore offer because she did not want to endorse fairness cream products.
“Ever since I was a kid, I have never understood the concept of fairness. Especially, in such a case, as a celebrity, what kind of an example would I be setting for younger people? I have no regrets about turning this offer down. As a public figure, I have responsibilities,” Ranaut told Hindustan Times .
Theatre actor Nandita Das, who is also famous for her active involvement in the campaign Dark Is Beautiful , openly discouraged India’s unfair obsession with lighter skin .
“Indians are very racist. It’s deeply ingrained. But there is so much pressure by peer groups, magazines, billboards and TV adverts that perpetuate this idea that fair is the ideal,” said Das to a reporter of The Guardian .
Even famous male icons like Ranbir Kapoor and Randeep Hooda have famously rejected fairness cream endorsements in the past.
“It’s a colonial hangover to be fair. India, as a country, has an obsession with fairness, whereas the entire world is lying under the sun and getting a tan. I think men should be tall, dark and handsome and not tall, fair and handsome,” Hooda told Hindustan Times .
Kapoor, too, refused to endorse a fairness cream simply because such products only make racist stereotypes, which already exist in our society, grow stronger roots.
