3.

If we look at the broader picture, often times, advertisements pertaining to the cosmetics

industry are often created to change women’s perception about the use of makeup and to

encourage them to try out new products thereby creating more demand for the product. Many

advertisements that are marketed towards woman usually make them insecure about their

appearance and tries to make consumers feel that if they will only look beautiful if they buy

certain products. In the end, women often cave into their standards and pressure to look

better, like the models in the advertisements and end up purchasing the product so that they

can feel better about themselves. Hence, overall, it can be said that advertisements used in the

cosmetics industries often creates images of what is the perfect hair, look or style, by making

the women portrayed in their ads have these qualities. Overall, it doesn’t focus on demeaning

certain category of consumers based on norms pertaining to their culture or from where they

are. It is also important to note that their advertisements are usually aimed at towards helping

women look as beautiful as the models used in their ads and not to degrade certain set of

consumers or even encourage racism.

Now if we look at Fair & Lovely as a brand and their products, it is clear from the case study

that their advertisements were demeaning or degrading the average women who often don’t

have a very fair complexion. Their advertisements clearly gave out the message that women

in India, who don’t use Fair & Lovely and are not fair will end up having no career no matter

how professionally qualifies they are. It also exploited the insecurities of the women living

according to the Indian culture to promote their products. In addition to that, it is also very

noticeable that its ads also violate the Indian Cable and Network Acts (1995), according to

which it is not legal to ridicule any caste, race or nationality , or even portray women as a

submission sect of the society to promote products in general. Hence, before launching their
marketing strategy, the company should have assessed the implications of their promotional

and marketing strategy on how their products would have been positioned in the minds of the

consumer. It is important to understand that different countries have different values and

culture, therefore can interpret promotional strategies in many different ways. Therefore, Fair

& Lovely should have ensures that their ads were ethical enough to the country they were

advertising their products.

1. Business ethics helps analyze the principals and core values that are held by a certain firm

and also the impact it has on its direct customers and also different people that are

affected by its business operations. It also ensures that a firm operates according to the

most effective practices in a global environment. It helps companies have a better

understanding on if their business practices are socially responsible and is in accordance

with the generally accepted practices of business. At the end of the day, it helps business

differentiate between what is wrong and right and helps it move forward in the right path.

Now focusing on the case study, it can be noted that when Hindustan Lever decided to

expand in the Indian market, its advertisement strategy which directly linked fairer and

more attractive women to being more successful career wise and also in personal life.

Another factor that can be noted is that the color of skin has and always will be on of the

most important theme in the whole Asian and therefore also in the Indian culture. In fact,

fairer skin has always been associated with higher caste and also attractiveness.

Therefore, to attain market leadership, Hindustan Lever’s strategy to exploit this

traditional and outdated mindset regarding fair skin and demeaning certain kind of

women can be considered as a very unethical means to gain more profit. It is not socially

responsible as well, being such a huger multinational corporation that is well-known all-

over India.
 I also believe that selling subpar products that don’t leave up to what is being advertised

is also unethical. In the case study, it is clearly pointed out that several dermatologist

from India had pointed to the fact that the cream doesn’t decrease melanin products and

therefore does not actually work. There are also different people who has already

supported this statement, as they have not notice any changes after years of using the

products. Hence this promotional strategy used by the company is unethical as it doesn’t

claim to leave up to what it advertises in the ads and only further creates more delusion in

the minds of the customer that using this product will help them fit into the Indian culture

and society.

6. There are several different ways through which the current advertisement and promotional

strategies used by Fair & Lovely can be changed or altered so that the different problems and

ethical challenges that were highlighted in previous sections can efficiently addressed

The marketing strategy that can be taken into consideration can be to further expand and

develop the different initiatives that are currently under the Fair and Lovely foundation. This

would require more investments in terms of capital. Furthermore, it can also focus on helping

women from India understand the correct method and approaches that has to be followed

while using the creams sold by Fair and Lovely so that they can get the maximum benefit out

of the product. In addition to this, much of the brands advertisements must be positioned

towards helping women gain more confidence and not to fit into the different standards set by

Indian society. Hence, an ad that targets and spreads the message of gaining confidence

through confidence can be more ethical and will also spread a more socially responsible

message. This will also further not create any ethical challenges pertaining to the culture and

values in India. Hindustan Lever must from now on focus on ways to position different Fair

& Lovely products as a means through which women can gain the confidence required to feel

better rather than saying that it is absolutely necessary to be successful in life. In addition to
this, they can also include both fair and dark-skinned women int their marketing campaigns

to promote more diversity in terms of beauty so should promote making skin smoother and

more beautiful rather than only focusing on making skin more fairer. It should at the end

help women feel better about themselves and by no means demean them for looking a certain

way.