The most striking thing about your comments is your ethnocentric (i.e., racist) attitude towards Dove's ad in India where you mock their notions of beauty. In many Asian cultures, light skin on women (and even somewhat on men) is considered beautiful. It isn't a desire to look like a white person. These notions have been in their cultures for centuries, long before you must have learned that whites subjegated the world and made everyone think they're the most beautiful people on Earth and should try to look like them.

I don't blame you, though. I blame your education system and your zeal to be politically correct. But in this instance, it's misplaced.

As a person who has traveled extensively and studied anthropology in relation to women's studies and of course, beautification and aesthetics as they pertain to different cultures and peoples throughout history, I agree with some of your points. I also believe women have a right to pursue what they feel is beautiful on their terms--I for example, like to indulge in self-tanner every now and then; as I've stated before, it is a strange yet given fact that human nature often follows the "grass is always greener" phenom. However, I feel like in this case, their ad campaign is specifically misguided, and I have to agree with the feminist experts in India who believe that given the influence of foreign media on their youth, caste system and history of colonization, these advertisements send out a negative message to women and teens. (And on that note, from a feminist perspective, products marketed towards helping a woman to "get the guy" are demeaning enough as it is, no?) That said, during my travels I have been confronted with many different forms of expression when it comes to the reigning aesthetic, and I do my best to respect beauty in all its forms, so I apologize if that doesn't always come across. (See also: http://productfiend.com/2008/07/is-white-skin-more-beautiful.php) Thanks for reading Astralis!