Racist Shah Rukh Khan Ad
Published by Haseeb August 28th, 2007 in Current NewsRight after I wrote a good post about a Shah Rukh Khan Movie (Chak De), I then unfortunately had to come across this commercial:
(Updated: With Subtitles!)
Shah Rukh Khan, Bollywood’s biggest star and corporate India’s most ubiquitous brand ambassador, is coming under pressure to abandon his controversial endorsement of a men’s skin-lightening cream.
Television commercials for Fair and Handsome, airing in August, show Mr Khan (or “SRK”) lauding a product that many see as entrenching discrimination based on skin colour by encouraging people to bleach themselves a lighter hue.
…Mr Khan urges a dark-complexioned and depressed-looking young man, struggling to attract female attention, to stop using skin-lightening products designed for women.
“Why are you secretly using a cream for girls?” Mr Khan asks. “Their skin is soft. Yours is rough and tough.” Several shades whiter and visibly more self-confident by the end of the 40-second commercial, the young man duly snares the girl of his dreams.
Source: Sepia Mutiny
What a shame. Isn’t it ironic how here in America, we spend millions of dollars annually trying to get a darker skin (tanning lotions, machines, etc.), where the exact converse holds true in India. Subhanallah…
Istaghfur-Allah
,
That was sad, but the mentality seems rampant across the East.
Very unfortunate
i think u’re over reacting, just because an actor or even a person appeared on a commercial doesn’t mean that he or she supports it. it’s good money and a person needs to make a living, just because a person appeared on a vodka commercial doesn’t mean that he’s an alcoholic or enjoys the drink, alot of people are in a Coke ad yet they prefer Pepsi .. i don’t think u’re being fair on SRK .. This Ad doesn’t mean anything, it’s just an Ad for a product.
hahaahha
good one, sabika!!
like SRK has no say in the products he chooses to endorse ??
your naivete astounds
HAHAHAHA
Sabika is from kuwait, what else do you expect from kuwaitis? No wonder the whole muslim world is in a shambles.
Isn’t Kuwait an American gas-station some where in the middle-east?
Any how…. where can i get this magic cream dudes?!?!?
How sad.
It’s weird how here people put on cream to get themselves to look tanner and then in other places people are trying to look whiter.
Instead of being thankful we are unhappy and continuously trying to change ourselves. And the media doesn’t help.
I was actually discussing this with some of my peers. They thought I was weird though…
But ya, the grass is not green on the other side.
LOL
India is the home of racism my friends. And SRK isn’t exactly a Muslim (he does Hindu stuff, just search it).
And I should let you know that cream sells like crazy. I know one dude who uses it and he’s still dark…I don’t think it works.
Try sunscreen
So im guessing you say that the people advertising tanning salons or creams in the west are racist against light skinned people? The whole mindset in the east is that fair = handsome/beautiful, I dont think we can expect SRK (a product of the culture) to stand up against it, he’s become noticabely lighter too, btw. Anyway, I dont think it’s racism to prefer a skin color, or even make an ad for it. I wouldnt go as far as Sabika did in saying that the actors ethics can not be judged by what they endorse..but this seems pretty harmless to me.
First off why are you so concerned with what an indian actor is supporting. Secondly ramadahn is approaching, Rather then wasting your time and watching that read some quran and see what your lord has to say. Today unfortunatly we are more concerned with what movie stars promots and dissaproves of…. rather then what our very own prophet told us or did for example… Rather then writing and wasting more peoples time and you getting sinfull for putting a video of women online you could have quoted some Ahadith and got reward.. Or something that can be benifical to the ummah. Ever since you wrote that articale about wasting time and not writing about friveolous issues thats all ive seen on your site. Thirdly we as muslims today are so fake, On one hand we hate the kuffar and on the other hand we wanna take every part in what they do.. For example every ahaadith there is says are prophet had a full and thick beard.. But we dont wanna follow what he had because one we are scared of our societys secondly there is no real love… Love of the prophet is through action we should love the kuffar and worry about there future and hate there habits and actions. This is just a reminder to me and everyone BE REAL MUSLIMS stop putting up fronts when it comes to the deen… Next time you support an indian movie puplicly on a blog think first not if shk was hot in it or not, Rather is this what Allah
created me to do or better yet if the prophet were here would he aprove of watching such nonsense. Our prophet cried when a funeral proseion of a jew was going by because he was another human and he was worried about his fate (excuse the spelling but i have to run). And i hope i dont offend anyone but this is just a reminder
LOL
hahah
“I’m Black and Proud!”
“I think white is alright, but I’m down with brown.”
I propose this slogan as our non-confrontational, “don’t hurt” me, battle-cry.
“Fair N Lovely” - Take it easy! Wow! Being Self Righteous will get you no where.
Hello - how come there were no outcries when the original Fair N Lovely (which has been out for a LONG time before this) was put on the market? That’s one.
Two - skin color DOES make a BIG difference to people. And it’s always called racism. Do you know how many young Sub-Continent girls have complexes growing up because they are darker, and every time the women-folk around them discuss beauty it’s usually like, “Oh, yes she is very nice. Very fair, very charming.” It’s one thing to have a personal taste in who one is attracted to, it’s another when that becomes a standard of beauty in a society. The former is fine and natural, the latter can be damaging and can lead to racism. Haven’t Pakistani and Indian kids here seen their older generations make degrading remarks about black people? You don’t think color has something to do with it? I’m pretty sure it does.
Also, it matters that we reduce as many references to skin color in this manner as we can because although we like to consider ourselves enlightened here in the US, racism is still a big issue. And it’s a big issue in how people in developed countries look at people in underdeveloped countries. How white people look at the rest of the world - meaning - how foreign policies and attitudes to peoples are formed. Think about it:
1) People grow up here being told that all the good things that we have these days are because greek people discovered reason, renaissance and enlightenment europeans used reason, and industrial and scientific revolution europeans made it happen. The only time any people of any other skin color other than white are mentioned is when either 1) the enemy is mentioned, or 2) the exotic is mentioned. Like herbs and spices. That’s when brown people, or asian people are mentioned.
2) People grow up here, learning -accurately- that Europeans went and basically colonized half the world in recent history - who did they colonize? Not other white people.
3) People see on the news that where all the trouble in the world happens, is where the brown people and people of other skin color are… where the white people live - i.e. most of the developed world - is where things are generally good.
People here, may not realize it, but they are influenced by the above three points during the entire course of their education here and as they grow older watching the news. You don’t think that a human being -although not consciously racist at all- is influenced by seeing “the fact” that the people who brought us all the good we have in the world today and who now rule the world, are all a particular skin color?
Hence, I think we should do our little parts (amongst a lot of other things we can and should do) and leave out references to skin color when we describe people, when we look at someone, and certainly, we should speak out against such stupid things like fair n lovely and fair n handsome.
Just. My. Opinion.
Interesting, the rising tide of anti haseeb thought. Take heed bro!
Salaam,
I think an ideal world would be one that Mujahada was describing, I know that comments like that do have damaging effects. I think we should focus our energies on letting our women know that they have to be grateful to Allah
for what they have, and so that anything that someone says to them does not cause them to have low self-esteem or any such thing. Wether it be a big nose, a dark complexion, one eye, whatever the case. We have so much, and we have to realize it, inshAllah.
Otherwise, this is part of culture, its pretty old, and its probably gonna stay for a long while. Women talk a lot, and often say things that arent very nice. Especially our desi aunties, with all due respect, they can be pretty frank many a time. I wouldnt call it racism still, but there still is a lot of real racism out there.
Allah
Allah 
Allah 
Allah 
Allah 
Allah 
Allah 
Allah 
Allah 
Allah 
Allah 
…cool
don’t be forgetting the irish, for example.
Wow, when did it go from discussing skin to bashing Kuwaitis?
THATS why the Muslim world is in shambles, too much infighting. If the Muslims stuck together as well as the Israelis (who practically tore each other apart with violence when it formed), we’d be getting somewhere.
Wow, when did this go from discussing skin to bashing Kuwaitis?
THATS the real reason the whole muslim world is in a shambles. If Muslims were more unified the way Israelis are, we’d be getting somewhere. They almost tore each other apart (armed groups attacked one another as the country formed, but they held together and it lasted). Can’t we stick to the deen better than that?
whats wrong with dark skinned people?
I don’t know what I dislike more, the overratedSRK and his crappy acting, or his legions of idiot fans who will justify anything he does.
Cancer is a beautiful thing, especially when you’re using toxic creams on your skin
I must say, it truly amazes me that people are still going on about this post.
I just like to say that SRK has taken this to make money.
I am based in London and people hear are more simple and believe that if it works then it will be promoted by it self and you don’t need a super star behind it.
Simplest example is that I heard about the skin Lightening cream by Pharmaclinix and wanted to know more about and went to website www.pharmaclinix.com and got the details of the company. They did explain me how it works and I tried it and I was amazed that without a big hooohhaaaa such creams are there in the market which works and are much better than the false advertised creams.
I must say that i am very happy about this product and would never hesitate to promote the skin lightening creams to people who can get some benefit out of it.
Anita
The Original People,
And First People To Know Civilization Were Black People.The Greatest People Who Have Ever Lived In This World Are Black People. When White People Emerged From The Caves Of Europe We Black People Were Here To Assimilate Them Into Our Civilaztion Because They Had None. But It Is The Darkness In The Minds And Hearts Of Too Many White People That Blinds Them. It Is The Self Hatred Of Many Mixed Race People Who Simply Can’t Get White Enough To Accepted Themselves As They Are. It Is Such An Indignity And An Open Discrace To Be Little What God Has Given Them In This Way. Their Saying Please Make Us Look Like White People. White People Do Not Love Them Or Their People. These People They Desire So Much To Look Like Are The Very People Who Once Enslaved Their People, Today These Same White People Enslave Their Minds. By A Eurocentric Mentallity That Eternally See’s Them And Their People As Inferior. They Fail To Understand This Simple Fact; White People Are Not White Because They Are Superior No! They Are White Because They Evolved In Darkness, The Darkness Of The Caves Of Europe. They Wish To Cover The Entire World In This Darkness That They Serve As Host To. They Simply Cannot Tolerate The Black Man, The Black Man Is The Original Man And They Can Never Be The Original Man. The Black Man Is The Original Man First To Enter The Light Of Civilizaton. The Designer And Chief Archetech Of Civilizations DNA; Formulations In Concepts Of Deity, Codes Of Morality, Spirituality, Perception Of Spirit Beings Beyond Self, Authored The Diciplines Of The Primary Sciences, Traversed The Abyss Between Man And Animal Now Second Only To God Almighty, And For All This Many White People Hate This Wonderful Human Being So Much They Cannot Tolerate Him Or His Presents In The House Next Door To Them. The Darkness You Carry Around Inside Of You Is Destroying You, Your Soul, Your World And Your Future. Hear This; He Who Lives In Darkness Will Never Know Where He Came From Or Where He’s Going, He’s Hopelessly Lost Because He Hates The Light Of Truth!!!!!!!!!!!!
Be And Love Yourself., Brother Sabree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dear,friend
Sharukh Khan, the NO 1 hero and actor in the Bollywood today, was
born on 2 Nov 1965 in New Delhi. He had no godfather, no love story
for him to begin with but quite amazingly a negative characterisation
which he had to check himself with. Might be - who knows he opted
for that but what an exhibition of a skill!
Please Visit For More Detail.
http://www.desidirectory.com/desi-indian-blogs/Default.asp?OrdDate
=0&txtKeyword=&page=2
The darker the berry the sweeter the juice…
I’ve seen most of Shahrukh Khan’s movies and he himself is noticeable much lighter skinned than he used to be.
In his movies from like the mid 1990’s his face and especially his hands look much darker than they do now in his recent movies. In those mid 1990s movies when there is a shot that shows him romancing a girl with a bare midriff you can see that his hands look much darker against the woman’s skin than his face which I assume has makeup on (his face). In the movies of his from the 2000’s he often looks like a Caucasian he’s so much lighter skinned than he used to be. Just compare photographs of him from movies from those 2 eras and you will see.
ok U dont seem to understand.
Fairskin people want a tan to get that perfect skin color.
darker skin people have a darker color than that perfect skin color so they need to lighten it. as Simple as that.
Alot of people like being darker, alot like being lighter, some dont, live wit what you got thats all i gatta say.
White’s Want a TAN color
Blacks, Browns, Want a TAN color
chinese want pale white lol i think.
same wit many asians. they like pale color i think