Fair & Lovely

When you watch a lot of TV, like I do, you will also watch a lot of commercials along the way. Some of them are repeated so often that it annoys the hell out of you. Some have catchy catch phrase that got stuck in your head for hours while going through your day.

Like the other day, I had this "Hidup biar sedap" going on a never-ending loop in my head. The irritating part is since I was fasting, I couldn't get myself a Wall's ice cream. So I just had to endure the craving until after 7pm, and guess what I had for breakfast? For starter, I had Wall's Solero, then the main course was the Viennetta Brownie Chocolate and for dessert, Mini Poppers. Ice cream overdosed, I would say. But at least I got rid of that phrase from my mind (more like I numbed my mind with all the ice creams until I couldn't think anymore).

I got a sinking feeling that advertisers really did their research on how to subconsciously influence unsuspecting people into buying their products. It worked on me, and I'm sure it worked for others too. I was once in a focus group for this particular brand of drink. They were testing the market for a newly launched drink. So they had a whole group of people, from different age groups to different hairstyles, to test the product.

And they paid cash too to the participants. So it was a win-win situation for both sides. They got what they wanted, and we got paid. Fair enough.

One commercial that I really like is the Fair & lovely "Tiap hari sayang". The way the made the whole thing, it kind of reminded me of a life that I could have had. Not that it mattered anyway, because I didn't have it in the end.

But I digress. There was a time when beauty products used to rule the TV airtime. Especially skin whitening products. I'm not really sure why is it important to be fair? What's wrong with being dark, or tanned? I have a dark complexion, and I can never imagine myself being fair (and I secretly love women with dark complexions, like Cheryl Samad! Okay, now it's not a secret anymore, duh!) .

Surprisingly, not only women fall for the ploy. I have a few male friends who actually use the product. Not that they became fairer or anything, but they must be quite vain to even attempted to change their skin colour.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

It is just weird.

Nowadays, it's hair products that rule the TV. Shampoos from Rejoice, Clear, Head & Shoulder, Pantene, Dove to Sunsilk are competing against each other, all promising no-dandruff and straight shiny hair.

First, you have to be fair, now you have to have straight shiny hair.

What's wrong with curly, or wavy hair?

And if you read the papers, you will come across plenty of slimming adds. From slimming centres to slimming products, all with before and after photos, to show the effectiveness of their products and programmes. There are too many of them that's it's hard to keep track anymore.

Whatever happened to the old fashion exercise and diet?

So now you know. If you want to be perfect, you need to be fair, have long, straight shiny hair, and be extremely slim.

As if.