Fair & Lovely Advertisement: It Hints at Colourism, Says Darren Sammy

Former West Indies skipper Darren Sammy has been very vocal about racism in cricket, and in general too. He was the one who called out racism by his Indian teammates in IPL, back in 2014.

Along with him, many cricketers have made shocking revelations about brush with racism. Now he has taken a dig at Indian society with reference to Fair & Lovely ad, that is in news these days.

“Your ad, Fair & Lovely clear says lovely people are the fairer people. That’s what it stands for, it hints at colourism,” Sammy was quoted as saying by Outlook in an interview.

Just recently, Uniliver, the manufacturers of Fair & Lovely, said that they would be removing the word ‘fair’ from their product.

Sunny Jain, president of Unilever’s beauty and personal care division had said, “We recognize that the use of the words ‘fair,’ ‘white’ and ‘light’ suggest a singular ideal of beauty that we don’t think is right, and we want to address this.”

Sammy had earlier said, just like awareness around anti-doping or anti-corruption it is important to educate young cricketers on anti-racism at a systematic level to reduce discrimination and promote the value of diversity.

“There is a need for education at a systematic level. Just as there is an emphasis on education around anti-doping or anti-corruption, the same emphasis must be given to educating the youth on anti-racism in order to help young cricketers understand diversity in cricket and adapt early on,” Sammy, a two-time T20 World Cup-winning skipper, said.