Growing up in Bombay, India, I got used to seeing colossal billboards on every street corner boasting “Fair & Lovely” in big, bold letters, advertising a beauty product that claimed to lighten skin. While I never paid much attention to those billboards or the advertisements on my television, I knew that the product connoted that lighter skin was, well, “lovely,” and darker skin was not. 

In a country that had many dark-skinned people, it was easy to see that the company that owned “Fair & Lovely,” Unilever, was profiting off insecurities perpetuated by Eurocentric beauty standards. The underlying assumption was that everybody wanted to be fairer and wasn’t comfortable in their darker skin. Eventually, the company received some well-deserved backlash, and after a petition signed by over 18,000 people, decided to change the name to “Glow & Lovely.”

Daily headlines, sent straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with the latest at and around USC.

I was perhaps six years old when I first came across a “Fair & Lovely” ad, but the idea of idealizing a European version of beauty has been a constant throughout my life and the lives of many other people of color. Whether it is stereotypes in films or everyday microaggressions, the implicit bias of lighter skin being more attractive is always present. Most recently, this discrimination has taken shape through the resurgence of the “blonde versus brunette” debate.  

Now, don’t get me wrong — I know that people of color can have blonde and brown hair. However, the ethos of this trend — even though it is just meant to be a silly trend — is rooted in prioritizing whiteness. When asking someone whether they would rather date a blonde or brunette, people of color are not considered an option. Such questions don’t hold space for people of color, working under the assumption that they are unattractive. 

Nia Kann writes on Medium that this automatically sidelines those who aren’t white. These trends and questions can ultimately lead to feelings of undesirability and questioning self-worth. 

When discussing beauty, it is critical to examine whether we are centering the discussion around whiteness. On social media, filters that automatically change eye colors to lighter ones and lighten skin inherently assume that whiteness is the beauty standard.

And the blonde versus brunette trend isn’t the only one that has perpetuated such notions. Earlier this summer, the “What Race Would You Not Date” trend went viral on TikTok. The responses in the most viewed videos included answers such as “Indians, because of the way that they look.” Once again, this answer boils down to Westernized beauty constructs. 

India, for example, is exceedingly diverse, and not everybody has the same features. However, when all ethnic features are deemed undesirable, it is a result of white features being idealized. While having a type is quite normal, stating that one would not date an entire race due to prejudices perpetuated by Western media is, at its core, racist. Other videos under this trend include answers such as Asians or Somalians, and the reasoning is always embedded in racial stereotypes.  

When such beauty standards are fueled from a young age, it can make people of color feel as if they need to change their appearance or that there is something wrong with their features. This can lead to them purchasing lightening creams and brightening serums, which are harmful to the skin. These feelings are only exacerbated when relationships and dating are added to the mix. 

People of color have often tried to fit themselves into this Western ideal by elongating their eyes, straightening their hair and bleaching their skin, among many other processes that lead to the rejection of ethnic features and the prioritization of white ones. It can be difficult to believe that ethnic features are beautiful when the media is constantly imbibing the idea that they are not. 

It is important to remember that there is, in reality, no one definition of beauty. It transcends race and cannot be contained into only one type of feature. People of color are, and have always been, beautiful.