Case study

of
marketing
management
Submitted by:
Nivedita agrawal
MBA
FAIR AND LOVELY
CREAM
 SUMMARY
The fairness cream market is flourishing in India, a country that
represents a unique amalgamation of social, religious, and cultural
stigmas and stereotypes. For the last three decades, consumer
goods giant Unilever/Hindustan Lever (HLL) has successfully
leveraged business opportunities inherent in India's obsession with
lighter skin tones with the launch of Fair & Lovely, considered to be
the leading fairness cream in the Indian subcontinent. The goal of
this paper is to take a closer look at the issues related to skin color
in India by analysing how Fair & Lovely skin-whitening cream is
situated in the context of Indian culture, is fetishiz edthrough media,
and is distributed to consumers Emami’s share dropped by 14%.
Consumers are becoming more mature or moving away from fairness products.

COMING OF AGE
Today’s generation is more health conscious than concerned about the colour of the
skin, says Ranjana Kumari, director of Centre for Social Research, Delhi, who shrugs
off the idea that fairness creams make Indians confident. “Confidence comes from
education. It comes from a sense of accomplishment. It’s stupid to think that creams
will make one confident.
WHEN DARK IS BEAUTIFUL
Emmanuel is a director at Women of Worth, a Chennai-based
organisation that launched the ‘Dark is Beautiful’ campaign in 2009 to
demolish the belief that a woman’s worth is measured by her skin.

FAIR ENOUGH
“Why should I be ashamed of using a fairness cream? It’s a matter of
personal choice and if using a cream enhances my look or makes me
feel good and confident, then why should anybody have an issue,”
Sujit Kumar, like Behera, is another youngster who swears by fairness
creams. “Fairness cream has increased my face value. It has not only
made me more confident but has also enhanced my looks.
It’s the likes of Behera and Kumar that marketers like HUL and Emami
will be pinning their hopes on.
 STRENGTHS
1.Fair & Lovely brand is World's first and largest
Fairness cream brand
2. Presence in 40 countries and a value of around
Rs.6 billion
3. Enjoys high levels of Consumer
WEAKNESSES
1.Categorization of women on the basis of skin
color, has led to many issues with activists and
human rights leading to Negative Publicity
2.Extremely tough competition in skincare
market

4. Excellent branding, top-of-the-mind name, and

good distribution.

SWOT
OPPORTUNITIES
1. Fair & Lovely Foundation which aims at
empowerment of women
THREATS
1. Several competitors in the market
2. Fair & Lovely Scholarship for
underprivileged girls 2. Challenges to deal with consumer choice and
buying behavior
3. Introduction of ‘Menz Active’ fairness cream
for Men
3. Legal issues often hamper the brand image
 NIVEA- 15%
 Emami players- 45%
 Garnier-25%
 HUL-15%

Major players of fairness cream

 INCREASE RURAL MARKET
PRESENTATION
 RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
 MEDIA EXPOSURES
 CONSTANTLY USING FAIR AND LOVELY
CAUSING SKIN CANCER ETC.
 INCREASE FOCUS ON PERSONAL
GROOMING.

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