Aishwarya Rai, Salman Khan, SRK: Who is the fairest of them all?

Published Tuesday, March 19, 2013

By Staff

Just a cursory glance at Classifieds columns in any newspaper will show us the obsession with fair skin.

It is hard to deny that fairness creams often get social commentators and activists all worked up.

Television is dominated by fairness cream advertisements for women as well as men. TV ads for skin-lightening creams have always tried to put forward the notion that having fairer skin helps a person to be more successful.

Whitening creams are widely accepted and legitimized by mainstream society. Fairness creams and the debate surrounding it have a long drawn history.

To endorse and sell the products, cosmetic giants have roped in Bollywood superstars.

Actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Shaid Kapur, Genelia D’souza, Sonam Kapoor and John Abhram are all hugely successful Bollywood actors, and all have supported cosmetic giants by appearing in fairness cream ads.

Be it Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra or Asin, quite a few Bollywood stars have endorsed fairness creams. As Salman Khan joins the league, we bring you 'fair' advocators of Bollywood.

Genelia D'Souza, a pretty fair lady, also endorses Fair and Lovely. Shahid Kapoor, too, features in advertisements for Vaseline fairness cream for men.

Esha Deol can be seen advocating fairness cream from Garnier - Garnier Light.

John Abraham has been featuring in ads for fairness cream for men from Garnier.

Bollywood actor Asin has also featured in ads for Fairever. Diya Mirza can be spotted on the advertisements of a fairness treatment for The Body Shop.

Shah Rukh Khan has been promoting Emami Fair and Handsome for a long time now. Deepika Padukone was seen in the advertisements for fairness cream from Neutrogena till 2012, endorsing the brand for almost three years.

Priyanka Chopra is a common face for TV ads. Apart from other products, she is also seen endorsing fairness cream from Ponds.

According to reports, Salman Khan has joined the league of other Bollywood stars to endorse fairness creams. He may soon be seen in the ads for the same.

Another beautiful lady that advocates fair complexion is Katrina Kaif. She has featured in ads for fairness cream from Olay - Olay Natural White.