Skin Color, Cultural Capital, And Beauty Products: An Investigation Of The Use Of Skin Fairness Products in Mumbai, India Part 2
May 18, 2023
Results
Use of Skin Fairness Products
Frequency
Of the total sample (N = 1,992), 1,084 (54.4%) participants had used fairness products within their lifetime and 901 (45.2%) had never used fairness products. Lifetime use data was missing for seven participants. There was a significant association between gender and lifetime use of fairness products, , p < 0.001. Women were 1.7 times more likely to have ever used skin fairness products than men. Specifically, 59.6% of the women had used fairness products at some point in their lifetime, while 46.1% of the men sampled had used fairness products at some point in their lifetime.
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Of the total sample, 754 (37.9%) participants had used fairness products within the past 30 days (i.e., were deemed current users) and 1,238 (62.1%) had not (i.e., were deemed non-users). Among current users, 32.7% (n = 355) reported using fairness products every day or more than once a day. There was a significant association between gender and the current use of fairness products, , p < 0.001. Women were 2.04 times more likely to be currently using skin fairness products than men. Specifically, 43.8% of the women sampled, currently used fairness products, while 27.6% of the men in the sample currently used fairness products. Women were also significantly more likely to use fairness products on a more frequent basis, , p < 0.001, with women representing 74.6% (n = 265) of daily users.
Age
There was no significant difference in age between current users (M = 24.73, SD = 9.12) and non-users (M = 24.67, SD = 9.03), t(1,990) = 0.128, p = NS. There was also no difference in age between women (M = 25.34, SD = 10.11) and men who were non-users (M = 24.87, SD = 10.40), t(1,263) = −0.814, p = NS. Among current users, however, the men sampled (M = 23.70, SD = 8.57) were significantly younger than the women sampled (M = 25.18, SD = 9.31), t(400) = −2.06, p < 0.05. Consequently, age was controlled for in the analyses comparing beliefs about fairness between women and men. Among current users, the mean age of initiating the use of fairness products was 18.56 years (SD = 6.08, range = 10–57). There was no significant difference in the age of starting the use of fairness products by gender t(713) = −1.35, p = NS.
Side Effects
A substantial minority of current users (17%; n = 128) reported adverse side effects after the use of fairness products, with 3.1% had sought help from a health professional. Women were significantly more likely to report having experienced side effects than men, t(279) = −2.96, p < 0.01.
Reasons for Use
When current users were asked “Who or what prompted you to start using fairness products,” almost half (44.6%) responded “Media/TV/Advertisements” prompted their use, while 20.6% reported that “Friends,” “Family” (16.4%), “Other/Self” (9.5%), and “Health Professionals” (1.3%) prompted their first use of fairness products (see Table 4). There were no significant differences in the source of prompts among women and men , p = NS. When current users were asked about their “main reason for using fairness products,” the desire to be fairer was the most common reason, followed by a desire to look more beautiful/attractive, to moisturize/protect the skin, social pressures, and other reasons. There was a significant difference in the reported reasons for fairness product use between women and men ,p < 0.05. Women reported using fairness products for beauty/attractiveness reasons more often than men (36.4 vs 26.5%, respectively), while more men reported using fairness products due to social pressures as compared to women (5.1 vs 1.8%, respectively).
Beliefs about Fairness
Current Users
To understand the extent to which users endorsed beliefs that being fair is more attractive (“body image and attractiveness” subscale), that their family and friends perceived fairness as desirable and better for cultural capital (“family and peer influence” subscale), and they had “a desire to look fair like media and celebrities” (“media and celebrity influence” subscale), the frequencies with which women and men reported subscale means of 4 or above (i.e., they endorsed “agree” or “strongly agree” for the subscales) were examined (see Table 2 for mean subscale scores). Women and men most strongly endorsed family and peer ideas about fairness being desirable with 26.7 and 33.4%, respectively, either agreeing or strongly agreeing with subscale statements on average. This was followed by a desire to look fair like people shown in the media and celebrities where 25.1 and 28.1% of women and men, respectively, agreed strongly agreed on average to these statements. Finally, 25.4% of men and 13.2% of women agreed to strongly agree on average to statements endorsing beliefs that being fair is more attractive.
Analyses of covariance with Bonferroni corrections were conducted to determine if there was a significant difference in the extent to which women and men currently using fairness products endorsed different beliefs. Men were significantly more likely to endorse ideas about fairness being more attractive, F(1, 744) = 6.91, p < 0.01, and they were significantly more likely to endorse family and peer influences, F(1, 742) = 11.75, p < 0.01. However, there was no difference between women and men in the extent to which they reported a desire to look as fair as people depicted in the media and celebrities, F(1, 740) = 1.72, p = NS.
Non-Users
Analyses of covariance with Bonferroni corrections were conducted to determine if there was a significant difference in the extent to which women and men currently using fairness products endorsed different beliefs. Men were significantly more likely to endorse ideas about fairness being more attractive, F(1, 744) = 6.91, p < 0.01, and they were significantly more likely to endorse family and peer influences, F(1, 742) = 11.75, p < 0.01. However, there was no difference between women and men in the extent to which they reported a desire to look as fair as people depicted in the media and celebrities, F(1, 740) = 1.72, p = NS.
Discussion
This study was conducted to explore the use of fairness products, beliefs about fairness, and reasons for using and not using these products, among a sample of women and men in the city of Mumbai, India. The use of fairness products is of public health concern in Asian countries because of the high prevalence and reported side effects (1, 12), along with the reinforcement of racism and social disparities. This was a convenience sample and there were more women and students. Thus, the results may be somewhat skewed by their over-representation. Although there were significantly more women than men using fairness products, a little over a quarter of the men sampled reported the current use of fairness products. Thus, the number of male users was substantial. Given that there were no fairness products created specifically for men 20 years ago, these findings suggest that the availability, combined with advertising that reinforces societal stereotypes, may have led to the use among a traditionally ignored population for skin fairness products.
More than half of the entire sample reported that they had used fairness products at some point in their lifetime. Women were more likely to have used fairness products in their lifetime than men, supporting our hypothesis. Even among current users, women were two times more likely to be using fairness products than men. Although there have been no published studies comparing men's and women’s use of fairness products in India, these findings support other work in the broader field of body image (4, 7), which indicates that societal expectations are much higher about women’s appearance than men’s. It is likely that the general trend for women to have higher levels of body dissatisfaction than men, and a greater likelihood of being judged on appearance (7), plays a role in these gender differences. Furthermore, the messages related to increased cultural capital as an outcome of fairer skin also appear to target women more than men, especially in advertisements as described by Li et al. (4), which may be the reason for greater use among women. There are also many more products available for and branded for, women than men. These results suggest that female consumers should be prioritized in further research and intervention efforts addressing the use of skin fairness products in India.
Within the current users, a considerable minority (17%) reported adverse side effects. This is a cause for public health concern in a market where there is no regulation of the products or the ingredients in the products. Furthermore, even when a single use of a product may be deemed “safe,” the regular use of some skin fairness products can lead to an accumulation of chemicals in the liver and kidneys which can cause damage to these organs (27). Women were significantly more likely to report side effects than men, which might be related to the earlier proposition that women might be using fairness products for longer periods. The type and duration of side effects as well as the social and economic consequences of these should be studied further. Furthermore, the fact that 17% of the users reported some kind of adverse reaction to the use of the products suggests that strong action needs to be taken at a policy level to regulate the ingredients and monitor the indiscriminate sale of these products. This supports past studies (12, 13) that have found that many products caused adverse side effects. Others have also reported side effects in other countries (14, 15), which has led to the banning of certain products in African countries.
Almost half (44.6%) of the users reported that the media influenced them in some way to start using fairness products. However, participants more strongly endorsed the subscale on family and peer ideas about fairness being desirable than any of the other subscales. Family members and peers may be influenced by media as well, leading them to put pressure on participants to use fair products, which would be the indirect impact of media. Interestingly, in terms of gender differences in reasons for using fairness products, men were significantly more likely to endorse items related to the connection between fairness and attractiveness as well as perceived pressure from family members and peers than women. This finding is all the more interesting given that more women reported using fairness products both currently and at some point in their life. This is contrary to our hypothesis that women would be more likely to relate attractiveness and cultural capital with fairness than men. As there is a dearth of research on gender differences as pertains to skin fairness product use, it is difficult to identify reasons for this variation and further research with samples of women and men is required.
Most women non-users endorsed reasons related to the side effects and efficacy of fairness products for non-use, while men were more likely to not use them for socioeconomic reasons. Given that more women are users and have reported side effects within the sample of users, products marketed and sold to women may be more potent and contain more harmful ingredients. In addition, as described earlier, women might use fairness products for a longer period, which might increase their susceptibility to side effects. As the men in the study were younger, they may have less disposable income available for the purchase of fairness products. However, the internal consistency of the socioeconomic reasons subscale was suboptimal; therefore further research with improved measurement is needed to replicate this result and to explore the reasons for these findings.
While the results of this study point to areas for future research, there are some limitations to the study that should be acknowledged. As a result of the lack of validated scales in this area, the assessment of attitudes toward the use or non-use of fairness products was done using a scale that has not been previously validated. However, in this study, the reliability of the new measure appeared to be good. The sample while large, was conveniently obtained with a requirement of literacy and thus, may not be considered representative of the population of Mumbai or India. The scales used to assess beliefs about the use of fairness products were different from the measure created to assess beliefs about not using them. Thus, it was not possible to directly compare the two groups on their beliefs. Furthermore, the scale was created to assess beliefs among non-users and sub-optimal reliability and factor structure and, thus, results obtained with that scale must be interpreted with caution.
However, there were some key strengths of the study, the primary of which is the fact that this is the first quantitative study examining beliefs regarding fairness products in an Indian city. Data were collected from a large sample in community settings. Although there were more women, there were a substantial number of men among both the users and non-users. In addition, the findings here support previous qualitative research (3, 4). No other studies have examined gender differences in the use of fairness products as well as gender differences in beliefs about the use or lack of use of fairness products.
There are crucial public health implications of the findings of this study. In terms of research, there are important avenues for future research. Since men chose not to use fairness products for socioeconomic reasons, future studies can include an assessment of the socioeconomic impact of the use of fairness products among those who are regular users. It would be useful for future studies to quantitatively examine the physical and psychological impact of long-term use of fairness products along with exploring the relationship with other body image and related issues (low self-esteem, high body dissatisfaction, lack of self-confidence, perception of cultural capital). The findings on the media prompting people to start using fairness products suggest the need for further research on the impact of advertisements of these products.
From the point of view of public health practice, there are several potential areas of intervention. Primary among these is the design of programs to reduce stigma and prejudice associated with skin color and its connection with people’s judgment of appearance, beauty, attractiveness, and social status. This can be done via several media platforms and by education programs developed with the purpose to create more awareness and acceptance of the natural diversity of skin color that exists in India. Public health education efforts must address differences between men and women in their beliefs about fairness and incorporate this in the design of their interventions. Also evident is the need to create more awareness about the adverse side effects of using fairness products. This can be done via consumer awareness programs at the state, national, and local levels. Most importantly, there is an obvious need for regulation of fairness products by the government. The regulation should take place at the level of ingredients in the product as well as at the level of advertising and marketing of products.
In conclusion, the results of this study shed light on the use of fairness products and beliefs about fairness in a metropolitan sample of women and men in India, one of the biggest global markets for skin fairness products. Peers, family, and media play a role in influencing decisions to use fairness products and the desire to be more fair, beautiful, and attractive were the most frequent reasons for using these products. It is also notable that most individuals who were not current users reported not using products due to socioeconomic or lack of efficacy reasons. Fewer respondents endorsed a belief that they did not want to be fairer. Thus, the notion of enhanced cultural capital associated with fairness appears to be a strongly held belief even among those who are not current users of fairness products. These results support quantitative and qualitative research conducted in Asian countries and among Indians elsewhere that has reported a widely held belief in the connection between attractiveness, cultural capital, and fairer skin (23, 28). This is an important area worthy of further study, as similar studies in the field of body image have suggested that people report less self-confidence if they are dissatisfied with their appearance and this affects several aspects of their daily life and functioning (29). Furthermore, due to the adverse health consequences and potential to reinforce racism and health disparities, skin fairness product use warrants further research, advocacy, and intervention among public health professionals.
Ethics Statement
By ethical guidelines governing research in India, institutional approval needs to be obtained for any research, which was done in this study. In addition, it is not necessary to obtain approval for the study from an ethical review board, especially as the study did not involve data collection with vulnerable participants and had no funding source. Nevertheless, all the procedures followed in the study complied with the guidelines laid down by ethics bodies in India. The participants were informed that the study was an exploratory investigation of the use of fairness products in India and that they would be asked to complete a questionnaire on their reasons for the use or lack of use of fairness products. Participants were given information on the purpose of the study. They were informed that there would be no compensation for taking part in the study and that there were no known risks to participating. They were informed that participation was voluntary. No identifying information was collected from the participants, as such the questionnaires were anonymous and the risk of data protection issues was minimized. Once verbal consent was obtained, participants were provided with a paper version of the questionnaire and were asked to complete it in the presence of a research assistant. The questionnaires were administered in English. One large educational institution provided the researchers with permission to collect data in their classrooms. Data from the community sample (other than the educational institution) were collected from apartment complexes where the researchers were provided with permission to collect data. Certain companies also provided permission to collect data from their employees.
Author Contributions
HS researched the previous literature, conceptualized the study, designed the questionnaire, did the preliminary analysis, and wrote portions of the manuscript. PD researched and updated the background literature, provided critical inputs to bring focus to the manuscript, and wrote portions of the manuscript, including the introduction and results. NC analyzed the data and provided input on the other sections. All authors approve the final version of the manuscript, ensure the accuracy and integrity of the work, and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Conflict of Interest Statement
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Consumer Guidance Society of India in collecting the data.
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Conflict of Interest Statement: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
For more info: david.deng@wecistanche.com / WhatApp:86 13632399501
