ctress and activist Nandita Das' "Dark is Beautiful" campaign is having an impact. The fairness cream and lotion market registered a slow growth in this past year primarily due to a change in the attitude of consumers. As per Nielsen India, the skin whitening market witnessed a negative growth of 4.5% in sales volumes in 2012-2013.

"For the last one and half years, there has been a change in the attitude of young Indian consumers. Many people now feel that they do not have to get a fair skin to get success in life. Brown or dark skin is being liked by young consumers," said brand expert Harish Bijoor.

The sales of Fair & Lovely skin lightening products, the largest player with nearly 60% of the market share, saw a decline by 4.2% last year, while the sales of Fair & Handsome dipped by 14%.

According to market estimates, the fairness cream and lotion industry as a whole is pegged at Rs 2,940-crore and is expected to grow at a slower pace as compared to its growth rate in the last decade.

"I have been getting tonnes of mails on the email id that is on my website, where mostly women have shared their stories of discrimination and feel validated with this campaign. The response has truly been overwhelming. I think the time has come to react to this fairness obsession," said Nandita Das.

She added that young consumers including men were losing confidence purely because of the existing bias in society. "They are being made to feel unworthy, inadequate, unacceptable. The imageries all around are perpetuating and promoting this stereotype," Das told The Sunday Guardian.

"Things have gotten worse with many more fairness products in the market and thus the demand for fairer skin has gone up. But then it was not too different in the past either."

Criticising the creative campaigns for these fairness cream products, the 43-year-old actress noted that apart from the brands that cater to this segment, advertising too has been pivotal in driving the growth of the industry.

"Come to think of it, it is actually a vicious circle — the fashion and beauty industries are catering to the 'dark skin complex', and in fact, creating a complex so they can cash in on it. The media is creating a furore about the attractiveness of white or fair skin, luring the dark-skinned individual into buying a product that will put them in the 'attractive' slot. So it would not be wrong to say that the industry and media are working hand-in-glove in victimising the customer, who is nothing more than a consumer to them," Das averred.

Reiterating similar sentiments, Bijoor described the advertisements for this product category as retrograde. "I expect the market to go up against the wall in the next ten years as consumers will refuse to identify with these products," Bijoor noted.

Commenting on the issue, advertising experts explained that the creative campaigns for fairness cream have already undergone a round of change. "Premiumisation in the category has happened. Brands are now positioning themselves as whitening or skin lightening products in the market. Hence, the creative agencies are now focusing on 'restoring the glow or radiance of the skin' while creating the ads for these products," said a senior advertising expert, who did not wish to be identified.

However, Ambi Parmeswaran, advertising guru and adviser to the agency Draftfcb Ulka, said, "Advertisers however need to understand the bigger context of how advertising works in the Indian cultural milieu. The old days of showing a domineering mother-in-law has been given a decent burial. I also think that in the next decade the woman as cook, provider will give way to woman as a multi-tasker."