Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Celebrities have always been pillars of beauty in society and often the topic of debate for what values are being conveyed by unrealistic beauty standards. Campaigns for #realmodels rather than role models and the social media trend of ‘expectation vs reality’ bring to light the dangers of advertising espousing an ideal look. Different cultures have different contexts of beauty and advertising shifts to address those contexts and highlight the aspirations of consumers in their products and ads.
In the ‘Fair & Lovely vs Dark & Beautiful’ context the lightening/whitening products address the commercial ideal of a lighter skinned person. This ideal is based on celebrity actors and models even though it’s not representative of the societal make up. We start to see a homogeneous ideal that doesn’t foster inclusion for a large population.
As a consumer, I’ve started to see a very similar aesthetic across all ads served to me. I have to step back to think through what my values and purchasing behavior is to ensure I’m supporting companies that align.