case

crayon

Hindustan Pencils

stationery mart

Chirayu Jain

racially

MRP

racist

A 19-year-old law student has filed aagainst a leading stationery brand in the District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission on the grounds that its ‘skin colour’is ‘misleading’.In his complaint againstPvt Ltd (makers of the ‘Colourama’ crayons) and Pooja Stationers & Arts, aon Avenue Road in June last year,(in pic) terms the ‘wax stick’ as ‘offensive’.“When I bought the colour crayon box and picked the skin shade stick, it did not match with my complexion or with a majority of my peers’ complexion. I decided to seek a reply from the company to end my curiosity,” said Jain. He claims the company’s reply was ‘unsatisfactory’ and filed a complaint with Bangalore Urban District Consumer Court in June last year. He alleged ‘deficiency in service and unfair trade practice’ on the part of the company.On October 28, 2013, the consumer court ruled against Jain. The court, in its order stated, “The appellant (Jain) had failed to prove either deficiency of service or unfair trade practice on part of respondent No. 1 (the company).”Jain has now filed an appeal with the State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission seeking an order that the company to remove the ‘skin’ label from the crayon. He also wants the company to remove the misleading label ‘includes skin colour’ from the product’s cover.Jain has also sought to be reimbursed Rs 10 (theof the product), the financial loss he suffered by purchasing the product, along with a sum of Rs 6,500 as legal cost. The appeal also seeks a directive to the company to pay Rs 9 lakh to the Consumer Welfare Fund.“As long as the notion of this ‘perfect skin colour’ remains imbibed in our minds, no matter the volume of discourse or campaigns against them, fairness creams would continue to find a bigger market, Bollywood would continue to prize fairer skin over talent and spouses would continue to be chosen for their colour instead of compatibility,” said Jain. “A problem ought to be tackled where it starts — at the grassroots. We do not intend to back out from the fight until we have won,” he added.In its written arguments, submitted before the District Consumer Forum, the Hindustan Pencils Pvt Ltd argued: “The said box of 12 colour crayons contains one piece labeled ‘skin’, but it cannot be accepted that the said nomenclature is misleading as alleged by the complainant. It is mentioned on the box that it includes special skin colour and nowhere it is said or claimed or marked that the colour wax crayon labeled as ‘skin’ matches with the human skin or skin of any particular animal or insect or reptile or bird or fish etc. Hence, the allegation of the complainant that the word ‘skin’ appearing on the said colour wax crayon does not match with his skin colour and that the same is in nature ofand objectionable are all false and baseless. It is a fact that the wax crayon labeled as ‘skin’ is neither defective nor labelled misleadingly.”