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BUSINESS:
SKIN CARE
Fair
& Growing
Booming
sales, multiplying brands and a flood of copycats, the market for fairness
products has changed its complexion like never before
By
Shuchi
Sinha
In
a country where even the gods supposedly lament their dark complexion
- Krishna sings plaintively, "Radha kyoon gori, main kyoon kala?
(Why is Radha so fair when I'm dark?)" - a skin deficient in melanin
(the pigment that determines the skin's brown colour) is an ancient predilection.
More than 3,500 years ago, Charaka-the famous sage who gave us ayurveda-wrote
about herbs that could help make the skin fair. That age-old fascination
is now a multi-crore rupee industry and is growing in leaps and bounds.
 |
| In three
years, the market for fairness has almost trebled and the number of
brands has grown four times |
The past
two years have especially been a fairytale success. At least 12 new fairness-out-of-a-tube
brands have entered the market taking the number of fairness creams available
to more than 30. From the grand old dame, Fair & Lovely, and Pears
Naturals Fairness from Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL), to Emami's Naturally
Fair, Avon's PT-White Fairness cream, Revlon's Touch & Glow, CavinKare's
Fairever-the list goes on forever. From Rs 384 crore in 1997-98, the fairness
product market in India leapfrogged to Rs 558 crore in 1999-2000. And
in the first six months of 2000-2001, sales had already touched Rs 480
crore.
The fairness
formula isn't restricted to creams anymore. There are fairness soaps and
there will soon be a fairness talc. In December 1999, Godrej launched
Fairglow soap, pitching it as its "millennium product". HLL
followed by launching Lux Sunscreen soap in May, positioning it as a tan-preventing
soap. The Calcutta-based Emami is test marketing a herbal fairness talc
in the south.
Interestingly,
the boom in fairness enhancer products had come at a time when the total
market for personal care products (shampoos, soaps and cosmetics) is passing
through rather gloomy days. The market leader HLL's sales of skin care
products rose by a meager 4 per cent between January and September 2000,
over the same months of 1999. In fact the growth impetus is coming from
fairness products. HLL claims that since its launch of Sunscreen in May
this year, sales of the Lux brand have shot up by 20 per cent.
The frenzy
in fairness business has had two consequences: A cut-throat competition
and a flurry of copycats. Every company-from the market leader to the
new entrants-has been forced to rejig its marketing strategies, spend
lavishly on advertisements and even seek legal action against unfair claims.
Till less than three years ago, HLL's Fair & Lovely was the undisputed
monarch of the market with a 90 per cent share and Emami's Naturally Fair
was a poor second at 6 per cent. All that changed when Chennai-based CavinKare
Ltd (CKL) launched Fairever in 1998. In just two years, the cream notched
up an impressive 15 per cent marketshare. Its USP: it contained saffron,
a herb believed to whiten the complexion. But when HLL found that Fairever's
formulation was a copy of Fair & Lovely it moved court in January
2000. In an out-of-court settlement, CKL reportedly admitted to copying
and agreed to withdraw all stocks with Fair & Lovely's formulation
by September 15. But amidst all this Fair & Lovely's marketshare fell
to about 80 per cent.
Cries of
foul play have also reached the Advertising Standards Council of India
(ASCI). When Godrej launched Fairglow soap, HLL complained to the ASCI
questioning the soap's fairness-enhancing capabilities. Godrej claimed
that HLL was advertising the Lux Sunscreen soap for several months before
it was launched. CKL, Emami and Avon had complaints lodged against them
for making "misleading claims", being "denigratory of competitive
brands" or having "similar concepts and visuals" to a rival's
campaign.
The heightened
competition has forced companies to increase their adspends. HLL relaunched
Fair & Lovely in March 2000 and raised its advertising spending by
four times (the exact figure remains a secret). Emami too plans to raise
its adspend by up to 75 per cent. But even as that happens, counterfeits
are having a field day. Fair & Lovely's fakes are rampant with names
like Pure & Lovely and Fare & Lovely. Fairever's copies are Four
Ever, For Ever or Fare Ever.
Can Black
Beauties Be Turned Into Snowhites? Here's what some users have to
say. Kavita Kurapati, a 30-year-old Delhi housewife, has been using a
fairness cream for almost a year. "The last time I went to my parents'
home, I got compliments on my fair skin from everyone," she gushes.
But most users aren't so lucky. Nirmala Pandit, a 26-year-old working
woman, is a regular user for the past eight years but to no avail. "I
should have turned into Snowhite by now but my skin is still the same
wheatish colour."
What's the
truth? Can fairness creams, soaps and talc turn Black Beauties into Snowhites?
Expert verdict is a clear no. Dr R.K. Pandhi, who heads the department
of dermatology at AIIMS in Delhi, declares, "I have never come across
a medical study that substantiated such claims. No externally applied
cream can change your skin colour. " Indeed, the amount of melanin
in an individual's skin cannot be reduced by applying fairness creams,
bathing with sun-blocking soaps or using fairness talc. Dr Pandhi explains
that the upper layer of the skin-or the stratum corneum-is dead tissue.
Below it is a barrier zone that prevents foreign particles from entering
the body. Only if a substance crosses this barrier zone can it reach the
melanin. Medicated ointments contain chemicals that help them get absorbed
beyond the barrier zone. "I don't know if any fairness cream does
that. As for something like soap, which is on the skin for barely a few
minutes, it's a nonsensical proposition," says Dr Pandhi.
The reality
is not so cut and dry. Even though there is no scientific backing of the
claims made by manufacturers, sales of fairness products continue to gallop.
The organised market of branded goods alone is worth Rs 558 crore. The
unbranded and fakes market is estimated to be another Rs 150 crore. That's
a big market already but the potential is even bigger. Going by the matrimonial
ads in the classified columns of newspapers, it seems fairness is the
most important definer of beauty in this wondrous land. With such an attitude
firmly entrenched in the minds of millions of people, the fairness products
industry will never see dark days.
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