Colourism in India began before colonialism in the 1600s, when social hierarchy was based on caste systems.
The wealthy, royals and priests were at the top, while those with manual labour jobs were at the bottom.
Those working agricultural jobs in the fields became darker due to their sun exposure, starting the association that those with darker skin were lower in social hierarchy.
This was further ingrained into society during the colonial times, when European invaders cemented the belief that those with lighter skin were more powerful and therefore had access to more privileges.
The common belief was that those of higher social hierarchy weren’t as exposed to the sun as the lower castes, and could stay indoors.
A Washington University Global Studies Law Review found that invaders including Mughals, Portuguese, and British came to India as early as AD 712.
They note that ‘Arab and Muslim invaders, including the Mughals, came from the Arabic and Persian Belt and had a fairer skin tone than the majority of the local Indian population’, and were seen as more powerful.
The belief became so ingrained into society, that India’s first fairness cream ‘Fair and Lovely’ for women was introduced in the 1970s.
In 2005, India’s first fairness cream for men followed, Fair and Handsome, and was even endorsed by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.
The market for women’s fairness products is expected to be 50bn rupees ($716m; £566m) by 2023.
According to Kavitha Emmanuel, the founder of Women of Worth, colourism often starts from birth, where parents favour the children with lighter skin.
Some of the biggest Bollywood stars, including Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone and Aishwarya Rai, are widely considered to have a lighter ‘more desired’ skin tone.
However in recent years colour bias has come under fire, with a ‘Dark is Beautiful’ campaign launching in 2008, started by Kavitha Emmanuel.
In 2013, Fatima Lodhi, from Pakistan, launched a Dark is Divine campaign, speaking to children in school across India.
In answer to the rising backlash, in 2014, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), issued guidelines banning commercial to depict those of darker skin as ‘unattractive, unhappy, depressed or concerned’.
By Jessica Rach