friends in this video we will talk about
topic which is trending
black lives matter and this topic is
close to my heart
because it's also reflected in the
society and communication
happening through cinema and tv series
around us
so i thought i will make a video on it
i'm seema gupta
professor of digital marketing at iim
bangalore
now is it time to uproot racism from
society
cinema tvs ads they are all a reflection
of
our society and they influence our
thoughts and choices
now in a world where barbies are made
available in
all the races indian ads are still
promoting racism
and cultural stereotypes they continue
to portray youth icons
as fair and promote the slogan why it is
beautiful
now freedom of expression clearly
friends is misused
and it is affecting the mindset of our
youth
children feel underconfident and ugly
all because of their color
now if we look at our culture our
culture does not promote
racism lord krishna is referred to as
ghansam
this means as dark as monsoon clouds
lord krishna is also described as darker
than the darkest
night so basically our culture
is color neutral but the roots of racism
in india
are from british imperial rule and they
drove that thought in a mind for
centuries
because they declared themselves to be
superior and called indians as slaves
so the feeling of racism was implanted
in people's mind now britishers have
left us
but the roots are still prominent there
is lot of racism
which is happening on internet lot of
channels like blogs
forums gaming sites chat rooms youtube
they use racism like making fun of races
and cultural differences to engage with
audience
a sense of wider net of white identity
is created
in order to promote superiority over
people of other colors
it was there in newspaper that one
gurgaon woman
committed suicide as husband taunted her
for
black complexion so cyber racism
can lead to depression and suicide in
some cases
it creates a feeling of self-hatred
which disturbs the mindset of an
individual
leading to inferiority complex racist
marketing
is another trend which is there fair and
lovely
even the name is highlighting if you're
fair then you are lovely
implying if you are dark then you are
not worthy enough
one of the biggest brand which came to
limelight
due to racist marketing is fair and
lovely
it has been a trend for indian fairness
cream companies
to display a girl with dark complex and
portray it as a negative trait
showing an underconfident dark
complexion girl
who suddenly becomes confident after the
use of the products
like fair and lovely and other fairness
cream
is very unhealthy this is one of the
biggest examples
of racist marketing another example is
of
dove and it has been in controversies
due to its racist
ads again promoting fair is better
where they show a comparison between a
dunk and a fair complexion girl
dove was accused of promoting racist
marketing and dove
apologized on social media for the same
bollywood actress aishwarya rai was
slammed for an ad for kalyan jewelers
which showed her dressed like a princess
and a black colored child
holding an umbrella it was inspired by
17th century
european paintings which showed white
women
having darker women as slaves or
children as slaves
the entertainment industry encourages
racism
they many a times declare you unfit if
you are not having fair complexion
on one hand some actors support black
lives matter hashtag
and on the other hand they are the brand
ambassadors
of so-called beauty products on one hand
they make a movie which highlights
color difference does not matter but on
the other hand
the actors in these movies themselves
promote
products which market fairness
now if we look at the impact on society
now we as human beings have a tendency
to connect with people
through one form or the other now with
more and more exposure to such racist
ads people have started forming false
opinions
such as if the person is of dark
complexion then he is poor
for example all the movies and tv
serials portray
a poor man with a dark complexion
now they indirectly link poverty with
color of the skin
and this gives out a very bad message to
the masses
it started with thrusting of
westernization on us
where we think western is superior we
label their culture as cool
and one of the major problem in western
world is
institutional racism now due to adoption
of western culture
we are also directly or indirectly
promoting racism
it also has huge effect on masses
because racist marketing creates a
division in society
where blacks and whites are segregated
it not only affects its personal level
but the masses as a whole separate
worlds are created within the same
society
which promotes hatred and violence
now one of the best examples is the
current black lives matter movement
for george floyd now on may 25th
2020 george floyd and african american
man
was killed during his arrest by police
and video footage from the incident
shows a white officer
pulled floyd down while he was wounded
the police knee pressed back on floyd's
neck
for more than eight minutes and in the
video
floyd is heard saying please i can't
breathe i can't breathe
and my stomach hurts everything hurts
the incident gained attention on social
media
and led to public and national outrage
on may 29 police officer shoghin was
arrested
and charged with second degree murder
and three other accompanying officers
were charged with aiding and abetting
several members of congress have brought
a resolution to condemn police brutality
racial profiling and excessive use of
force
so black lives matter is an activist
movement
that started as a hashtag discrimination
is evident in
every aspect of our lives and society in
our interactions with people
in policies and practices in
discriminatory
language and our laws and institutions
many view floyd's death as an example of
subtle racism
considering how racism undermines people
of color
in the criminal justice system
african-american
and latin men are wrongly represented at
all
levels of the criminal system research
also shows that african americans
are 2.5 times more likely to be killed
by police than white
people now isn't it time to ban
fairness screams government has accepted
how ads promote
racism and is supporting to implement
strict rules
and regulations now due to such toxic
influence government of india proposed a
5 year
jail and 50 lags fine for promoting ads
based on
fair skin even health products such as
complaint could also face
problems due to the fact that they
showed tall is better than
short in their ads in september 2019
the indian fairness cream market was
approximately
450 million dollars banning fairness
cream has gained
big support from some of the big
bollywood celebrities
to stop racism in ads many celebrities
refuse to promote racism for
money can't we see black as beautiful
the word dark has a negative notation in
our minds
whenever we hear the word black it
becomes a bad idea
it could be black money black family
sheep
but black is not always reckless
it is not always a symbol of evil
destruction
or discouragement various aspects of
life celebrate
dark the whole education system is based
on black
when a young child goes to school for
the first time
his or her education begins with the
black board
so black in this case helps to brighten
young minds
the word dark is very important in
scientific world
in technology too black holds an
important position
black box testing is an important
testing method
used by software testers before
releasing any software
into the market blackbox testing is a
software test
where internal structure composition or
installation
of the test material is unknown to the
inspector
so on one hand black is considered
classy
on the other hand it is targeted as ugly
this is how our society works your first
choice of the color of the car is black
but you want a fair daughter-in-law all
these things do not matter
because black is beautiful and history
is the proof
the missile man of india apj abdul kalam
is an
inspiration to millions around the globe
and he had a dark complexion he's the
man with no haters
black has always been people's dream
from black ferrari to black iphone black
is
always classy think of all famous
companies
and their logos so be it the famous
fashion designer
louis vuitton or the premium technology
brand apple
most of the top brands they have their
logo
in black black represents depth
represents gravity unadulterated
mystery and complexity research shows
that people who like black color tend to
be more creative
so like me if you're one of those then
same pinch
in the end it does not matter because no
one can replace the beauty of the black
in a nutshell
media has been part of a society and it
plays an
important role in the development and
growth of our society
media in itself is a great source of
learning but the negative portrayal
of some groups and culture affects not
just the current society
but future generations ads have been
promoting cyber racism
and racist society this creates a
feeling of hatred
and violence fairness companies are
bluntly promoting the product with
racist marketing
and racism has been the cause of many
suicides
and depression cases and such mentality
has resulted
in riots and violence throughout the
history
government has warned companies to stop
using racist
marketing for the promotion and last
but not the least
black is beautiful and it will always be
love yourself because only you can
replace you
thank you for watching
