HUL'S DECISION TO REMOVE ‘FAIR’ IS A WELCOME BUT NOT THE ULTIMATE VICTORY, SAYS MOU DAS

Jyothi Venkatesh

The brutal killing of George Floyd in the US once again sparked the debate about colourism and racism. Soon Johnson and Johnson announced that it would stop the production of two of its creams, and Hindustan Unilever Limited quickly followed suit and issued a statement saying they will remove the word “fair” from its popular product “Fair & Lovely”. Sharing her views on this, producer Mou Das said, “I believe humanity continues to perpetuate in discrimination and violence in small and large scale contexts. 'Colour and Races' have waged the worst forms of war, not just against nations but also against humanity.”“Unless people are stopped from being stigmatized in the world arena by their races and colours, even the next generation will be as much as a victim of these discriminations," she added.

Mou says she doesn’t blame any particular race and added that we all are victims of our situations. She further said, “All our claims are through our experiences. A girl must not be judged by her appearance, or by the colour of her eyes or of skin or hair. Intrinsic qualities must define an individual. Marriage portfolios are a representation of exactly the conservative mental frame. The multi-billion cosmetic industry runs luring girls to buy magical lotions and potions to improve their skin tone.”

“Now if suddenly no one desires to improve their skin colour what will happen to this Big Game? So definitely not everyone will desire for a world where women will realise their identity beyond their physical features. Hindustan Unilever Limited's decision to remove the word 'fair' from the most popular beauty product is definitely welcome but not the ultimate victory,” she added. Mou concluded by making a very valid point and said, “Only when everyone realizes that beauty is but skin deep and makes conscious decision to go beyond mediocrity to search their true selves, only when the world rises to humanity above all 'isms' can we create the utopian world of our dreams.” Rightly said Mou, as we couldn’t agree more.