Objectification of humans on the basis of their gender is a common issue in recent times. Female objectification by male involves a woman being primarily viewed as an object of male desire, rather than as a whole person. Even in commercial media and advertising, their depiction is limited to that of girls with low self-esteem using beauty products, mainly skin whiteners, to boost their confidence and become beautiful to get the man of her dreams. Fairness creams are known for building self-esteem of women since eternity. India got its first commercial fairness cream as early as 1919 in Afghan Snow, manufactured by E.S. Patanwala.
The era of Feminism led to women’s sexual emancipation ushering the phenomenon of role reversal among women and men whereby women view men as sex objects, in a manner similar to what they criticize about men’s treatment of women. Because of the society’s accepted contemplation about the objectification of women, the new-found objectification of men is not as widespread. The demand of fair complexion among men for the purpose of gaining popularity and stardom has increased widely. After infusing the need of fairness among women, promising them better marriage and employment, the beauty industry is now looking forward to bleach Indian men as well. The men’s fairness segment came out because almost one-third of the users of women’s fairness creams were men.
The importance of being fair is probably explained in the typical Indian movies where fair-skinned actors are portrayed as heroes while the dark-skinned actors get the role of villains because, ‘good guys’ have invariably fair skin. The portrayals of these movies might have a direct impact on society that manifests among the young men using fairness products. This is a notable shift from the bygone era when men would utilize women’s beauty products due to the lack of better substitutes for them. Currently, the market comprises skin whiteners that are specifically made for men. Men are purchasing far more fairness products than they did ten years ago.