'Elle Magazine - Apologize for Trying to 'Whiten' Indian Skin' [Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on the cover]
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
Targeting: Prabal Guha Niyogi (Art Director, Elle India), Kavita
Bhartia (Vice-Chairperson, Elle India), Nonita Kalra (Editor-In-
Chief, Elle India), see more...
Started by: Prerna Lal
It looks like Elle had quite the white Christmas.
Bollywood actor and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is
featured on the cover of Elle Magazine looking far paler than she is
in real life. Most fans are up in arms and an appalled Ms. Bachchan
is considering a lawsuit against the magazine.
Consumers have long been inundated with ads that use prominent
Bollywood actors to promote skin-lightening products. In a country
that produces gorgeous women of color, it is sad that Ms. Rai-
Bachchan, who is relatively light-skinned, is one of the very few
with some cross-over appeal. To see magazines like Elle further
enforce the color hierarchy of crossover appeal by making Aishwarya
appear lighter-skinned is a slap in the face.
This is the second racial debacle surrounding Elle. The American
version was criticized for its October 2010 issue, which featured
actress Gabourey Sidibeon on one of its four celebrity covers with
noticeably lighter skin than her natural complexion.
Lets tell Elle Magazine to make a commitment to moving away from
using white as a standard for beauty, and demand a public statement
and apology.
More at:
http://www.change.org/petitions/view/elle_magazine_apologize_for_trying_to_whiten_indian_skin
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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and/or www.mantra.com/jai
Forwarded message from M. K.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
"Indian actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan appears on the January cover
of Elle magazine, but she's outraged by the image. Her skin appears
far more pale than it is in real life. Her dark brown hair is shown
to be practically red.
Elle claims to celebrate women of color by featuring them on magazine
covers, but this is the second time in just six months that Elle has
blatantly made women of color more white. (The last controversy
surrounded Precious actress Gabourey Sidibe.)
For better or worse, publications like Elle play a huge role in
determining global standards of beauty -- especially for young girls
and teenagers who read it. It sends a cruel and dangerous message to
women of color everywhere when Elle manipulates the skin color of one
of India's most famous actresses just so she can appear on a magazine
cover.
Here's our opportunity: Elle is a business that cares more about its
bottom line and public image than anything else. To change their
behavior -- and send a message that reverberates through the whole
fashion industry -- we need a public outcry.
Join Change.org members in telling Elle Magazine to ends its practice
of racist skin-whitening.
India already has a billion-dollar skin-whitening industry. Many
women burn their skin through the use of unsafe whitening products.
And there's a pervasive prejudice against girls who are "too dark"
and therefore can't get hired or married.
A global publication like Elle has no business reinforcing that
racist and damaging stereotype. Elle suffered from some bad press
when the magazine cover came out, but there still needs to be a
massive public campaign to force them to take real action. This is
that campaign.
Tell Elle that women don't have to be white to be beautiful -- and to
apologize for its offensive doctoring of its cover models:
Thanks for taking action,
- Judith and the Change.org team
End of forwarded message from M. K.
M. Ranjit Mathews
Why don't you demand a public statement and apology from Bollywood and
ask them to make a commitment to move away from white as a standard
for beauty and start hiring characters looking like Johnny Lever too
to play the hero's role in its movies?
> More at:http://www.change.org/petitions/view/elle_magazine_apologize_for_tryi...