White = slutty

There is a strange disconnect in Delhi between 'acceptable' dressing and advertising such as this. No Indian woman would be seen dead in this outfit. Most Indian women get around in pretty modest clothing, very glamorous but modest. To do otherwise would challenge the prevailing social norms. This picture walks a tightrope of acceptability - the legs are light-skinned enough to pass for a western woman, but with just enough skin tone that they might, tantalising, belong to an Indian. In this case they're selling a product to women, subliminally linking light-skin to sexiness.

This approach is more overt in advertising for a male audience. When advertisers want their product to be sexy, they use light-skinned female models. In one advertisement, a young Indian man using 'Axe' deodorant is chased down the street by a pack of fifty crazed and fleshy blond women. In some bollywood films white western women are used for the 'stupid sexy tart' roles, fawning over Indian men (who eventually choose good Desi girls, marry, and live happily ever after). Advertisers and film-makers seem to be pushing the boundaries of acceptable sex-in-advertising, while maintaining the pretense that Indian women are pure and chaste - and good for marriage (or the selling of laundry detergent). Indian women in advertising can be beautiful, and playful, but never raunchy.

Sadly, I think this creates a slightly weird environment for light-skinned women who live in or visit India. I've seen my friends photographed by young punks on their cell phones and stared at wherever they go - I know what the punks are thinking. And I know women who have been openly (and clumsily) propositioned by taxi drivers and the such. There seems to be an assumption that they're white so they're up for it! I blame the advertisers who tell Indian men - 'we all know you'll marry a good Desi girl, but until then buy 'product X' and be irresistible to slutty western women." Some might call it racist - imagine the reverse scenario.

I think this approach will change. The Indian middle class is embracing all sorts of change so it's just a matter of time before hotpants are everywhere and the sexiness of Indian women is no longer something to be hidden. Hopefully too the typecasting that accompanies skin colour within India can gently fade away, and with it skin-lightening ointments and other sinister concoctions. Let's all embrace the Benetton world.