Case Study: Cultural Norms, Fair & Lovely, and Advertising
I TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION 1
2 QUESTIONS 1
2.1 Is it ethical to sell a product that is, at best, only mildly effective? 1
2.2 Is it ethical, to exploit cultural norms and values to promote a product? 2
2.3 Is the advertising of Fair & Lovely demeaning to women or is it portraying a product not too dissimilar to cosmetics in general? 4
2.4 Will have HLL’s Fair & Lovely Foundation be enough to counter charges made by AIDWA? 4
2.5 In light of AIDWA’S charges, how would you suggest Fair & Lovely promote its product? Would you response be different if Fairever continues to use “fairness” as a theme of its promotion? 5
2.6 Propose a promotion/marketing program that will counter all the arguments and charges against Fair & Lovely and be an effective program. 6
2.7 Comment on the change in the two statements by HLL between 2003 and 2005. Do the changes in the statements reflect a change in marketing/advertising strategy? 7
2.8 Comment on Shanaz-Husain’s introduction of “fairness cream for the masses” in 2004 in light of AIDWA’s charges. 7
3 SUMMARY 9
4 BIBLIOGRAPHY 10 1 INTRODUCTION
Since 1987, the Indian company Hindustan Lever LTD has developed the revolutio-nary skin lightening technology. With its branded product Fair & Lovely it has been the market leader for several decades (HLL.com, 2007). In the Indian culture fair skin is associated with positive values like class, beauty and wealth.
The Indian skin care market is growing rapidly. Between 2001 and 2007 the growth rate had risen by 42.7 percents to $318 million market. With skin lighting creams as most popular products the sales of Fair and Lovely have been growing about 20 per-cent every year (Timmons, 2008).
The high demand of skin lighting creams implicates a stronger competition with ex-isting competitors and new market entrants. One of these competitors is Cavin Kare with its brand “Fairever”. After entering the market Cavin Kare reached a market share of 15 percent (cavinkare.com, 2008). It was
1 INTRODUCTION 1
2 QUESTIONS 1
2.1 Is it ethical to sell a product that is, at best, only mildly effective? 1
2.2 Is it ethical, to exploit cultural norms and values to promote a product? 2
2.3 Is the advertising of Fair & Lovely demeaning to women or is it portraying a product not too dissimilar to cosmetics in general? 4
2.4 Will have HLL’s Fair & Lovely Foundation be enough to counter charges made by AIDWA? 4
2.5 In light of AIDWA’S charges, how would you suggest Fair & Lovely promote its product? Would you response be different if Fairever continues to use “fairness” as a theme of its promotion? 5
2.6 Propose a promotion/marketing program that will counter all the arguments and charges against Fair & Lovely and be an effective program. 6
2.7 Comment on the change in the two statements by HLL between 2003 and 2005. Do the changes in the statements reflect a change in marketing/advertising strategy? 7
2.8 Comment on Shanaz-Husain’s introduction of “fairness cream for the masses” in 2004 in light of AIDWA’s charges. 7
3 SUMMARY 9
4 BIBLIOGRAPHY 10 1 INTRODUCTION
Since 1987, the Indian company Hindustan Lever LTD has developed the revolutio-nary skin lightening technology. With its branded product Fair & Lovely it has been the market leader for several decades (HLL.com, 2007). In the Indian culture fair skin is associated with positive values like class, beauty and wealth.
The Indian skin care market is growing rapidly. Between 2001 and 2007 the growth rate had risen by 42.7 percents to $318 million market. With skin lighting creams as most popular products the sales of Fair and Lovely have been growing about 20 per-cent every year (Timmons, 2008).
The high demand of skin lighting creams implicates a stronger competition with ex-isting competitors and new market entrants. One of these competitors is Cavin Kare with its brand “Fairever”. After entering the market Cavin Kare reached a market share of 15 percent (cavinkare.com, 2008). It was
Bibliography: Beech, J., & Chadwick, S. (2004). The business of Sport Management. USA: Financial Times/ Prentice Hall Böck, M. & Rao A. (1995). Aspekte der Gesellschaftsstruktur Indiens: Kasten und Stämme. (P. 112-131) In Dietmar Rothermund: Indien. München: Beck cavinkare.com/fairever.html (2008). Cavin Kare HLL.com (2008). Hindustan Unilever Limited Kaldewey, R. (1984). Grundwissen Religion. München: Kösel Timmons, Heather (2007). Telling India’s Modern Women They Have Power, Even Over Their Skin Tone. The New York Times.