Has skin whitening in India gone too far?

The new ad features a young woman struggling to attract her man's attention - until she uses the shower gel.


Has skin whitening in India gone too far?(BBC).For centuries Indian women have been raised to believe that fairness is beauty, and this has given rise to a vast and ever-growing skin-whitening industry - which is now encouraging women to bleach far beyond their hands and face.A new ad catering to Indian women and their "lady parts" invites backlash over the growing popularity of skin-lightening products. A TV commercial for the skin-lightening product, Clean and Dry "Intimate Wash," promises Indian women protection, "fairness" and freshness down there. The ad depicts an unsatisfied young wife concerned that her husband is more interested in his daily paper than in her, presumably — as the ad would have you believe — because her vagina is too dark. But after a quick wash with the pH-balanced skin-lightening cleanser, the couple is frolicking on the furniture with renewed lust.So it shouldn't be surprising that the vagina-whitening phenomenon is alive and well in the U.S. too. "The desire to lighten these areas is not limited to Indian women. There's quite a bit of demand for products like this in the U.S.," says Dr. Jessica Wu, a Los Angeles dermatologist and assistant clinical professor of dermatology at USC School of Medicine. "Many of my female patients ask me about lightening their private parts."Read the full story here and here.