Mary Kay Invades India — Part 2
As I was looking at Mary Kay’s India site, something hit me.
The models on the site.
When you market products, don’t you want your potential customers to see themselves using your brand? And shouldn’t your marketing materials reflect that?
Then tell me why the models on the Mary Kay India site are blondes and fair-skinned brunettes (with an occasional black woman thrown in) ?
Are there no beautiful Indian models they could put on the site? (Of course there are.)
But check out the picture of the models on the main page at the bottom:
http://www.marykay.co.in/home
And on the main makeup page: http://www.marykay.co.in/Makeup
And the model on the fragrance page: http://www.marykay.co.in/Fragrances
And the model on the skin care page: http://www.marykay.co.in/SkinCare
The message I would take away, if I were an Indian woman, is that Mary Kay is a company that sells products for light skinned women but they probably don’t have products for me.
Is it just me?
Lipstick on 
Ann on 
Brooke on 
Tam on 
LJ…sounds like you’re “right on the mark”.
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Indian culture (like many Asian cultures) reveres pale skin. Some of those women may actually be Indian (probably North Indian). Skin lightening products are very popular. You should check out the matrimonial ads (basically arranged marriage advertisements) – every single person is listed as “fair” or “wheatish complexion.” They’re obviously all not fair skinned, but they want potential spouses’ families to think so.
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Baroness…I love your posts, you always educate me about something. Hearing what you said about their culture, now it makes sense!
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Thanks, Lipstick!
I think MK’s marketing purpose was to say, “Our products will make you look like this,” even when looking basically white is an impossibility for most of those women. However, that’s what people want to hear. There was a good article in Little India magazine not too long ago called “The White Complex” – it’s an interesting read on this topic and relates to makeup, skin lighteners, etc. as well: http://www.littleindia.com/news/134/ARTICLE/1828/2007-08-18.html
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Very interesting Baroness.
Lighter skin being a virtue is prevalent in most cultures, from what I’ve seen.
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Except for us whiteys (at least here in the U.S.) – we try to tan ourselves into wrinkles and skin cancer. Everybody wants what they don’t have. Kind of stupid what people do to achieve basically someone else’s idea of “beauty.” I think it all just causes us more stress and emotional problems than anything else. And for what?
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Exactly BvFP! There is a theatre presentation called the V—– Monologues that isn’t foul or distasteful at all, despite misconceptions based on its’ name. It expands on the idea about beauty you presented.
I agree that some of what people do to achieve another’s idea of beauty is stupid and downright unhealthy sometimes. Like the talc as the MAIN ingredient in MK’s new mineral line for instance. Talc is a known carcinogen. In the humorous words of another person here, “I prefer tumor-free lungs, actually.”
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again, i would have to suggest that some of you read up about cosmetic-grade talc. it is not the same as regular talc and, according to at least a dozen reports i’ve read, not harmful, not asbestos-like and not carcinogenic. do you seriously believe any cosmetic company would use talc at all, either as the first or last ingredient, if it were? one site to go to is cosmeticsinfo.org.
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