Fair and Lovely

When I was 15 my mom handed me a tube of "Fair and Lovely" and said "Try it! Its very popular in India!" On the tube was this beautiful white woman with black hair who was supposed to be Indian. She fooled no one. I called all my other Indian friends and they told me that they have also at one point been approached by their mothers with the same tube. In India, it is an obsession to have light skin. Light skin means wealth, class, and beauty. India was colonized by the British since 1600 till 1947, many years of imperialism and cultural imperialism. And after their independence in 1947, India has been trying to compete with the western powers. It is only inevitable for western culture to seep into the Indian culture. Not only with the obsession of lighter skin, but major institutions like Bollywood are directly promoting a western agenda. They make re-makes of Hollywood movies, like Superman, and place actors who are at least 3 shades lighter than the average Indian. Without the success and influence of Hollywood, Bollywood would not exists today. And then there are major western companies like Ponds who only sell skin lightening cream in Asia. While India is trying to progress in the world economy, it is still under the influence of the west. Cultural imperialism is just as significant as capital imperialism. And if India keeps on being influenced by the west in this way, they will not have the social progression they need to become a significant world power.