This Thursday an unexpected thing happened. The company Hindustan Unilever finally decided to drop the word Fair from its product called Fair and Lovely. This incident received happily by many people because they felt uncomfortable whenever they came across the advertisement. A girl who was twenty-two years old was particularly affected by the line that she decided to file a petition against the company. She received over 15,000 signatures in just two weeks. She filed the petition on Change.org. The name of the girl is Chandana Hiran and she took this brave move to stop the discrimination against black skin colour everywhere.
What was her inspiration?
(1/3) Let’s talk about #bodypositivity
For the longest time, I have felt insecure because of my knees. They are slightly darker & and I’ve always received comments that made me feel like there is something wrong with them. So I started to hide them completely. pic.twitter.com/dqZrYy8dCS
— MoonChild? (@chandana_hiran) June 29, 2020
Chandana Hiran got inspiration from the Black Lives Matter Movement happening in the US. Although the company HUL did not share that she was the reason behind the change however we know that she is one of the many women who stood up against the ideology. Because of the continuous views of the women regarding their advertisement the company at last removed the word.
In India, the idea behind being beautiful is being fair. Many women go behind the creams and other beauty products that make them look fair. This is because of the discrimination against the dark skin colour. Everywhere they go people want them to do something to be fair. Even in the marriage ads, the groom wants a woman who is fair and lovely. So to take away this thought from the people’s mind girls like Chandana Hiran are bravely sharing their views. They are battling against the mediums that make people believe that being fair is being lovely.
Chandana Hiram boldly shared her views with News18. She said that she demanded the company to change its brand ideology which they used effectively all these years to sell the cream. However now as many people are aware of how it affects people in general girls like Chandana Hiran are fighting against it.
She also used the social media platform as a medium to share her thoughts with the public. She posted the views on her profile page and asked many people to sign the petition. Finally, when HUL changed it she also thanked the company for their step.
I have goosebumps as I read this! Kudos to you .@Unilever I’m so so so happy rn. And I thank you on behalf of over 10k people who signed my petition for this to happen – https://t.co/EW7RjBTk6r #Unreal #ThankYou #AllShadesAreLovely
.@HUL_News pic.twitter.com/yhec0DJ2Hz— MoonChild? (@chandana_hiran) June 25, 2020
Other than this issue Hiran also questioned the objectification of women in the songs in Bollywood. Many songs in the industry have a woman wearing revealing outfits to appeal to men. She accused the industry of being misogynistic. The brave girl used the Change.org to talk about this issue also.
Conclusion
It is really good to see such young girls take a stand for what they believe in. This step shows us that people of India can use their voices to talk about issues that affect them personally. It worked well in the case of Chandana Hiran. She actually turned the head of a large company with her strong stand and her platform Change.org.
So because of people like Chandana Hiran, some wrong things in society can get straight. Now many people got inspired to share their views on Social media. It is an effective tool to talk about issues and problems in our society.
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