As 'fairness' cream rebrands itself, Bips recalls being called 'dusky'

Bipasha Basu recollects being called 'dusky' through the years in this eye-opening post; take a look!

It has been a long and gruelling battle fighting the powers that be against colourism in the country. One of the biggest 'fairness' brands have now decided to undergo a rebranding and drop the word 'fair' from its name.

A brand that once promised a radical transformation in the complexions of people who used the product, essentially a 'dark' to 'light' transformation, will undergo a complete overhaul, and we couldn't be more delighted.

Besides us, one of the many celebrities who have welcomed this change is none other than the stunning Bipasha Basu. Taking to Instagram, Bips shared an eye-opening post on how she grew up being referred to as 'dusky', even after she wowed the audience in her first few films. 

She wrote, "From the time I was growing up I heard this always, "Bonnie is darker than Soni. She is a little dusky na?" Even though my mother is a dusky beauty and I look a lot like her. I never knew why that would be a discussion by distant relatives when I was a kid. Soon at 15/16 I started modelling and then I won the supermodel contest... all newspapers read... dusky girl from Kolkata is the winner. I wondered again why Dusky is my first adjective???"

Read the complete post here:

 

 

 

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From the time I was growing up I heard this always,”Bonnie is darker than Soni.She is little dusky na?“Even though my mother is a dusky beauty and I look a lot like her.I never knew why that would be a discussion by distant relatives when I was a kid. Soon at 15/ 16 I started modelling and then I won the supermodel contest ... all newspapers read ... dusky girl from Kolkata is the winner.I wondered again why Dusky is my first adjective ??? Then I went to New York and Paris to work as a model and I realised my skin colour was exotic there and I got more work and attention because of it. Another discovery of mine:) Once I came back into India and film offers started... and finally I did my first film and from an absolute Ajnabee to Hindi film industry ...I suddenly was accepted and loved. But the adjective stayed which I started liking and loving by then.DUSKY girl wows the audiences in her debut film. In most of my articles for all the work I did,my duskiness seemed to be the main discussion.. it attributed to my sex appeal apparently.And sexy in Bollywood started getting accepted widely.I never really understood this... To me sexy is the personality not just the colour of your skin...why my skin colour only sets me apart from the conventional actresses at that time.But that’s the way it was.I didn’t really see much of difference but I guess people did.There was a strong mindset of Beauty and how an actress should look and behave.I was DIFFERENT as it was pointed out. Didn’t really stop me from being and doing all that I loved. Well you see I was confident and proud of who I was from childhood.My skin colour didn’t define me ... even though I love it and wouldn’t want it to be any different ever. Many skin care endorsements with loads of money was offered to me in the last 18 years ( some were very tempting)... but I stuck to my principle always. All this needs to stop. This wrong dream that we are selling ... that only fair is lovely and beautiful when the majority of the country is brown skinned. It’s a deep rooted stigma. It’s a mammoth step from the brand... and other brands should follow in the same footsteps soonu00f0u009fu0099u008f

A post shared by bipashabasusinghgrover (@bipashabasu) onJun 25, 2020 at 8:32pm PDT

Bipasha Basu is absolutely correct when she says that in a country of brown-skinned people, it's a wrong thing to promote that only being fair is lovely and beautiful. She also hopes that other brands follow this step soon and rebrand themselves.

Along with Bipasha Basu, several other celebrities like Kangana Ranaut and Suhana Khan also welcomed this move by the brand. 

According to a report in IANS, HUL also removed from the packaging, words such as 'fair/fairness', 'white/whitening', and 'light/lightening' that could indicate a fairness-led transformation. The cameo with two faces showing shade transformation, as well as the shade guides, were removed from the packs. The company will continue to evolve its advertising, to feature women of different skin tones, representative of the variety of beauty across India.

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