by CHARUKESI RAMADURAI
First they promised to lighten and then they promised to tighten. Corporate India has suddenly discovered the vagina and cannot seem to stop talking about it. It all started about ten months ago with a cleanser that promised whitening of the vagina. This should not have been surprising in a land with a fascination for fair skin that borders on the absurd. In India there are whitening products available for the face, the body, and even specific body parts, like the elbow.
However, this product raised an unexpected uproar in the media, following which the marketing company MidasCare backtracked and began to use the catch-all word “freshness” in place of “fairness.” Yet, the advertisement for “Clean and Dry Intimate Wash” left no one in doubt about its use, with its classic before-and-after scenario: Indifferent man, miserable woman; a dab of the soap, a spritz of water; excited man, happy woman! And the line went, “Life for women will now be fresher, cleaner, and more importantly, fairer and more intimate.”
Advertising guru Alyque Padamsee wrote in Open magazine about the Indian consumer, and in the context of fairness products said, “It is hard to deny that fairness creams often get social commentators and activists all worked up. What they should do is take a deep breath and think again. Lipstick is used to make your lips redder, fairness cream is used to make you fairer – so what’s the problem? The only reason I can offer for why people like fairness is this: if you have two beautiful girls, one of them fair and the other dark, you see the fair girl’s features more clearly. This is because her complexion reflects more light.”
Yes, Mr. Padamsee, but do we really need light-reflecting vaginas?
The controversy over “Clean and Dry” had hardly abated when “18 Again” was launched. As if insecurity about skin tone was not enough, this product went a step further, promising the woman the feeling of “being a virgin again.” In the commercial for this “vaginal tightening and rejuvenation gel,” an obviously married woman dances around her husband crooning, “I feel like a virgin” while the extended family looks on indulgently. “Now every time feels like the first time.”
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