One advertisement that I particularly dislike is the fair and lovely ad featuring an Indian actress named Yami Gautam. I first came across this ad several years ago when I was in school and I think it still gets airtime both in TV and online. So, the ad is basically about a fairness cream or a skin lightening product which promises women that with regular use of it you can not only become more fair skinned but also become more successful and confident in life. The advertisement presents this whole idea that the key to both professional and personal success is just to become more fair skinned. What I dislike most about this ad is the underlying message that it promotes. It reinforces this idea that fair skinned is somehow superior to darker skin tones and success and beauty depends on how light one’s skin tone is. This can affect anyone’s self esteem and also impose unrealistic and discriminatory beauty standards. And this is even more detrimental when you consider the context of countries like Bangladesh and India where women already struggle with the societal pressures regarding fair skin and beauty. But what’s really problematic about this ad is that the actress who promotes this ad is super fair skinned herself. So it feels duplicitous when you see someone who already fits into the conventional beauty standard to endorse something which capitalizes on the insecurities of vulnerable women. Besides she keeps promoting it even after there have been multiple studies where it has been found that women who are exposed to these type of fairness creams are at a higher risk of skin cancer because these contain harmful chemicals which corrode the outer layer of your skin. And so for all these reasons I really dislike this ad. Thank you.
Band 8+: describe an advertisement you don't like
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One advertisement that I particularly dislike is the Fair and Lovely ad featuring an Indian actress named Yami Gautam. I first came across this ad several years ago when I was in school, and I think it still gets airtime both on TV and online. The ad is basically about a fairness cream or a skin lightening product that promises women that with regular use, they can not only become fairer-skinned but also more successful and confident in life. The advertisement presents the idea that the key to both professional and personal success is simply to become fairer-skinned. What I dislike most about this ad is the underlying message it promotes. It reinforces the idea that fair skin is somehow superior to darker skin tones and that success and beauty depend on how light one's skin tone is. This can affect anyone's self-esteem and impose unrealistic and discriminatory beauty standards. This is even more detrimental when you consider the context of countries like Bangladesh and India, where women already struggle with societal pressures regarding fair skin and beauty. What's really problematic about this ad is that the actress who promotes it is very fair-skinned herself. It feels duplicitous to see someone who already fits into the conventional beauty standard endorse something that capitalizes on the insecurities of vulnerable women. Besides, she continues to promote it even after multiple studies have found that women exposed to these types of fairness creams are at a higher risk of skin cancer because they contain harmful chemicals that corrode the outer layer of the skin. For all these reasons, I really dislike this ad. Thank you.
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Speaking Time: 109 seconds