Many companies today thrive off peoples’ willingness to use skin-whitening creams. There are several reasons why many people may find the need to have their skin fair such as persuasive advertisements, pressure from society, and personal preferences. The impact of using such products on society and health varies.
Firstly, People can be easily influenced by advertisements today. Many profit-making companies are aware of the tactics and techniques they could use in order to persuade customers to purchase these products like skin-lightening cream. They purposefully make it seem like it is not conventional to have dark skin and instill a sense of insecurity in people. For instance, a well-known advertisement of an Indian cream called Fair and Lovely had a very influential Ad, where they intentionally made the actress look unattractive with makeup and blamed it on her skin color. Such false ads can be very misleading to people and force them to try on skin-whitening creams.
Secondly, people in society may put pressure on one another. Many people pressure their family members into thinking they are not good-looking until they are fair-skinned. Nepalese societies as well as Indian societies hold a belief that black colour is bad luck, and thus find white skin more appealing. This belief is wrongfully promoted among young people which leads them to want to have fair skin later in the future. Moreover, On many occasions, Just how Western people like to get tan from the sun , some people have their personal preferences of having a white skin. This could be another possible reason why they might want to try such cream.
If talking about effects on society of using such cream, it really depends on the beliefs and values that a society holds. There might be increased acceptance from society if a person’s skin is fair in a society where white skin is the standard. However, in terms of health, it is quite evident that using such cream can have a detrimental effect on the skin’s health. Such products contain harmful chemicals which can be toxic to the skin. Many studies have shown that skin-whitening creams pose high risks to the skin and can even cause skin cancer as they possibly contain steroids and mercury. All the harmful chemicals can cause permanent hyperpigmentation which can be extremely dangerous.
To conclude, there are varying reasons why people choose to use skin-whitening cream. It could be because of influence, or their own personal preferences. Either way, it is not innocuous in any way and should be avoided by people. Not doing so might put individuals’ lives at risk while trying to fit into society’s standards