...Doing Well by Doing Good Case Study: ‘Fair & Lovely’ Whitening Cream Aneel Karnani Stephen M. Ross School of Business The University of Michigan 701 Tappan Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1234 Phone: (734) 764-0276 Fax: (734) 936-8715 E-mail: akarnani@umich.edu March 2007 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Doing Well by Doing Good SMJ 07-6615 rev Doing Well by Doing Good Case Study: ‘Fair & Lovely’ Whitening Cream Abstract According to the ‘doing well by doing good’ proposition, firms have a corporate social responsibility to achieve some larger social goals, and can do so without a financial sacrifice. This paper empirically examines this proposition by studying in depth the case of ‘Fair & Lovely,’ a skin whitening cream, marketed by Unilever in many countries in Asia and Africa, and, in particular, India. Fair & Lovely is indeed doing well; it is a profitable and fast growing brand. It is, however, not doing good, and I demonstrate its negative implications for public welfare. I conclude with thoughts on how to reconcile this divergence between private profits and public welfare. Key Words: Corporate social responsibility; bottom of the pyramid 2 Doing Well by Doing Good SMJ 07-6615 rev The idea that companies can do well by doing good has caught the attention of executives, business academics, and public officials. The annual report of virtually every large company claims its mission is to serve some larger social purpose besides making profits. The theme...
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...Cultural Norms, Fair & Lovely, and Advertising Fair & Lovely, a branded product of Hindustan Lever Ltd. (HLL), is touted as a cosmetic that lightens skin color. On its Web site (www.hll.com), the company calls its product “the miracle worker,” “proven to deliver one to three shades of change.” While tanning is the rage in Western countries, skin lightening treatments are popular in Asia. According to industry sources, the top-selling skin lightening cream in India is Fair & Lovely from Hindustan Lever Ltd. (HLL), followed by CavinKare’s Fairever brand. HLL Fair & ’s Lovely brand dominated the market with a 90 percent share until CavinKare Ltd. (CKL) launched Fairever. In just two years, the Fairever brand gained an impressive 15 percent market share. HLL’s share of market for the Fair & Lovely line generates about $60 million annually. The product sells for about 23 rupees ($0.29) for a 25-gram tube of cream. The rapid growth of CavinKare’s Fairever (www.cavinkare .com) brand prompted HLL to increase its advertising effort and to launch a series of ads depicting a “fairer girl gets the boy theme.” One advertisement featured a financially strapped father lamenting his fate, saying, “If only I had a son,” while his dark-skinned daughter looks on, helpless and demoralized because she can’t bear the financial responsibility of her family. Fast-forward and plain Jane has been transformed into a gorgeous light-skinned woman through the use of a “fairness cream,” Fair & Lovely. Now clad in...
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...lightening technology – Hindustan Unilever Limited is thefirst company which introduced a fairness cream – Fair andLovely - with the special skin lightening technology in India. Thisgave HUL first mover benefit. Research centre – HUL s research centre is amongst the largestresearch establishments in India’s private sector industry. Thisenables it to speed up its research activities and developtechnologies based on latest market requirements. Strong distribution channel- HUL products are manufactured in80 factories. The operations involve over 2000 suppliers and associates. HUL s distribution network, comprising about 7,000redistribution stockists, directly covers the entire urbanpopulation, and about 250 million rural consumers. Company image- No one knows India or Indian consumers betterthat HUL. Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest fastmoving consumer goods company, with leadership in Home &Personal Care Products and Foods & Beverages. HUL s brands,spread across 20 distinct consumer categories, touch the lives of two out of three Indians. Wide range of products –HUL has time and again come out withnumerous products to cater to large segment of the society suchas fair and lovely anti-marks cream, fair and lovely oil controlfairness gel, fair and lovely facial face wash, fair and lovely undereye cream, fair and lovely body lotion, fair and lovely fairnesssoap etc. Recently it has come out with – Perfect Radiance – ithas a complete range of 12 premium...
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...MARKETING MANAGEMENT Table of Contents Objective 2 Product Category Definition 2 Fairness Cream Market 3 Competitive Landscape 4 Environmental Analysis 5 Porter’s Five Force Analysis 10 Introduction to the Company and our product “Fair and Lovely” 12 STP Analysis 15 Consumer Behaviour 18 SWOT Analysis 26 Recommendations 27 Bibliography 28 Product Category Definition Fairness Cream products are a part of the personal care product segment. More specifically, they are a sub-set of the skin care product segment. Given below is the product category map: Personal Care Products The product category refers to the products that customers use to enhance or support their personal appearance, hygiene, and well being in general Fairness Products Skin Care Products The segment includes various products such as moisturizers, anti-ageing creams, and sun-screens that customers use to take care of their skin Fairness segment is that part of the skin care segment which includes products that are responsible for improving the skin fairness (permanently or temporarily) For the purpose of this study, we are concentrating only on the Fairness Cream Products, i.e. the fairness products available in cream form, and not in the form of soaps, gels, etc. Also, we are only considering the products whose primary utility is skin fairness. However, these products might also be delivering some additional (but secondary) utility. Fairness Cream Market Market Overview ...
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...CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION- The fascination of Indians for fair skin is well known. As several social commentators have pointed out, if there is any doubt about this, then people could just take a look at the matrimonial column of any newspaper. The preference for fair (or gori in the vernacular) brides screams at you from such columns. Social commentators go on to say that this preference is perhaps a hangover from the British colonial days, when the ruling colonizers, who were fair-skinned, had a higher status than the darker-skinned locals. Several social gatherings, clubs etc. were earmarked as being 'for whites only'. Perhaps the long years of colonial occupation have ingrained this fascination for white skin in the psyche of Indians. Or perhaps it is the fact that the traditionally higher castes in the country were of a somewhat fairer complexion than the lower castes. India Today, a popular magazine which did a story on fairness creams, mentioned that even the gods supposedly lamented their dark complexion as in a myth in which the popular dark-skinned god Krishna sang plaintively, 'Radha kyoon gori, main kyoon kala?' (Why is Radha so fair while I am dark?). The feature also mentioned that the ancient Ayurvedic sage Charaka wrote thousands of years ago about herbs that could help make the skin fair. This is what Sudarshan Singh, a brand manager with Nivea, has to say: 'Whitening emerges as the prime need. Since Indian men spend a lot of time outdoors, they desire to reverse...
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...Paddle Pop (for kids), to family favourites like our Selection range of Red Tubs, Italian Gelato and Viennetta are available • • Manufactured using international processes Product Line includes Cornetto, Feast, Paddle Pop, Selection the award winning parlour concept, Swirl’s. Price • The prices range from low cost i.e. Paddle Pop which costs Rs 8 to Viennetta which costs Rs 150 • • The most popular Cornetto Walls is priced at Rs 20 to Rs 30 Feist is in the range of Rs 15 to Rs 20 Place • It is has a four step distribution system. From production units the lot is taken to the distributors, then wholesalers, then company salesmen and they take the lot finally to the retailers • It has major presence currently in the 30 big cities across India 3 • It is sold extensively by push carts since most customers are impulse buyers and it believes in giving maximum visibility to the products Promotion • • • Promoted as the “ice cream with the big heart” which is taken from its logo A “good, honest, daily scoop of pleasure” Extensive publicity campaigns especially organised by Cornetto Walls like “luv reels” and “just one cornetto” promote the youthfulness of this brand • • Feist had also undergone extensive innovative advertising via iPod Nano advertising Cornetto Walls is famously promoted as “true love never fails” Brand 2: Closeup Product It was the first one in the Indian market to launch a gel toothpaste It has the following product line...
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...GROUP 2 Marketing Project FINAL REPORT ON Fair & Lovely | Unilever FOR FAIRNESS WITH EVERY WASH FOR PIMPLE FREE SKIN FOR SPOT FREE SKIN 1|P e FORa gAGELESS, FAIR SKIN 2013 – 2015 XLRI Jamshedpur Contents I. II. III. Cosmetics Industry................................................................................................................................ 4 Fair and Lovely : Experiencing Beauty .................................................................................................. 6 Market .................................................................................................................................................. 7 Market Size ............................................................................................................................................... 7 Market Share ............................................................................................................................................ 8 Seasonality ................................................................................................................................................ 8 IV. MICRO ANALYSIS................................................................................................................................... 9 Threat of new entrants ............................................................................................................................. 9 Buyers and their bargaining power............
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...1.0 Introduction This case study analysis focuses on misplacement of cultural imperatives bymounting unethical advertisement campaign by two Indian package mass consumptioncompanies - Hindustan Lever Ltd and CavinKare Ltd. The development of revolutionary skinlightening technology brand; Fair & lovely by Hindustan Lever Ltd opened up a new chapter onapplication of unethical promotional strategy to generate large volume of sale and maintainmarket leadership position in India skin care industry. Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) holds 90%market share of the skin care industry but when CavinKare Ltd (CKL) lunched its Faireverproduct within two years CavinKare Ltd was able to gain 15% of the market.Hindustan Lever Ltd exploited the cultural preference of light skin complexion todark skin color in India and lunched an unethical promotional campaign that portrayed light skinsuperiority and gender inequality. The advertisement campaign created a strategic weakness forHLL which CavinKare Ltd capitalized on to lunch a counter attack by developing anadvertisement that is culturally more appealing to a wider segment of the Indian society. Catora,Gilly & Graham (2011) pointed out that “many countries, the international marketer faces the dilemma of responding to sundry situations where local law does not exist, where local practicesappear to condone a certain behavior, or where a company willing to do what is necessary isfavored over a company that refuses to engage in certain practice”...
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...findings 9) Strategic recommendations and conclusions OBJECTIVE - To study the current Indian market for fairness cream. - To asses whether advertising is influencing the buying behavior of the consumer. - To find out the brand preference for fairness cream among people. - To study factor influencing brand preference for fairness cream. Fairness Cream has become a vital product for the Indian companies in increasing their overall sales due to the importance given by Indian consumers towards fairness. As India is a country known for its diversity different consumers from different parts of the country prefer different brands. The leading players in the market includes Hindustan Lever Ltd., (HLL's) 'Fair & Lovely' with 76 percent of the market share and Cavin Kare' s 'Fairever' with 15 percent of the market share. Other important players like Godrej' s 'Fairglow', Emma's 'Fair and Handsome', Vicco and Himalaya share the rest of the market share. There are number of fairness creams and other skin whitening products in the market such as peel-offs, serums, lotions etc. All the fairness creams have similar basic ingredients but the several additions make them more suitable to some particular skin type and may irritate other skin types. All the companies are reaching out to the target customers through its wide range of fairness creams....
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...This case tells how two companies in India, HLL’s Fair & Lovely and Cavin Kare’s Fairever , ran advertising campaigns that were not very ethical. In India fair skin is thought of as more beautiful and desirable than darker skin. Fair & Lovely was the leading company with 90% share and the Cavin Kare’s Fairever was released and they gained 15% share. This made Fair & Lovely launch a series of ads depicting a “fairer girl gets the boy theme.” Cavin Kare also came back with ads focusing on the same thing. They also showed in their commercials that their products worked. Their campaigns lasted for a few years and were eventually pulled due to harsh criticism for its portrayal of women. 1. Is it ethical to sell a product that is, at best, only mildly effective? From my point of view it is not ethical to sell a product that is, at best, only mildly effective. The product which is mentioned in the case is a cosmetic that lightens skin color. It is promoted as “the miracle worker” which can deliver your skin a difference from one to three shades. According to the new Fair & Lovely technology ad, the cream is supposed to change your skin even in four weeks. However, Indian dermatologists explain “that fairness products cannot truly work as they reach only the upper layers of the skin and so do not affect melanin production”. Moreover experts state, the main reason why people believe that the cream is work-ing, is a bleaching ingredient which just whitens facial hair and not the skin...
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...Ethnic Consumers Consulting Case Report Qi Wu Situation Analysis The main problem in this case is the different cultural values among different classes of people like middle and upper class and the challenge is to differentiate brands on the basis of the culture among both social classes. This case is about the Indian products related to the cultural values and the advertisements of such products which influence the culture of the people of specific area. In the case, the target market is Indian market and the products are Fair & lovely, Fair ever cream and parachute hair oil. These are the products which are very familiar in Indian market. In this case there is a research on different type of social classes which are targeted by the advertisement of these products. These advertisements influence the purchasing behavior of consumers by affecting their...
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...Before the start of the paper, I have to declare that there are many ways to promote goods, but most important, these businesses must abide by the law. This case study analysis focuses on misplacement of cultural difference by mounting unethical advertisement campaign by two Indian cosmetic companies - Hindustan Lever Ltd and CavinKare Ltd. The development of revolutionary skin lightening technology brand; Fair & lovely by Hindustan Lever Ltd opened up a new chapter on application of unethical promotional strategy- advertisement to generate large volume of sale and maintain market leadership position in India skin care industry. All Indian Women Democratic Association (AIWDA) complained to HLL and appealed to the National Human Right Commission protesting that HLL advertisement is racist, promotes son preference and insulting to the working women. Whether advertisement should be ethical? Is it important for company to consider the cultural norms? At first, There are a lot of advertisement promote their products overly, I can understand this behavior because it is the most important purpose to sell their products, what’s more, for some products, their effects is vary from person to person. However, the skin lightening cream is ,at best, only mildly effective. This is not the situation I said in last paragraph. Its efficacy is almost not up to anyone's expectations, so I think it is not only ethical but also a kind of deception. For this kind of product, cosmetics, the government...
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...CLBS-004 Cavinkare’s Innovative Marketing Strategies CavinKare’s Fairever fairness cream, with the USP of ‘a fairness cream with saffron’ op y acquired a 15% share, and F&L’s share fell from 93% (in 1998) to 76%. Within a year of its launch, Godrej’s FairGlow cream became the third largest fairness cream brand, with a 4% share in the Rs. 6 billion fairness cream market in India. The other players, including J.L. Morrison’s Nivea Visage fairness cream and Emami Group’s Emami Naturally Fair cream, had the remaining 5% share. During 2000-01, with tC major players entering the market, the existing products were promoted with renewed vigor through price reductions, extra volumes, etc. Many products were marketed aggressively. While Fair & Lovely (F&L) advertisements projected fairness No comparable to the moon’s silvery glow, FairGlow offered the added benefit of a blemish-free complexion. Fairever, which sold at a higher price, did not initiate any promotional activities. B. Nandakumar, President (Marketing) CavinKare, explained, “We will not tailor our product to the competition. We’ll do so for the consumer. Freebies are not the only Do way to garner sales.” However, analysts believed that CavinKare did not undertake any promotional activities due to lack of financial muscle. CavinKare’s Fairever was available only in tubes of 25gm and 50gm, and was also priced higher than its competitor’s products. A 25gm Fairever tube was priced at Rs...
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...Cultural Norms, Fair & Lovely, and Advertising 1. If advertised correctly I do not feel it is terribly unethical to sell a product that may not work perfectly. If it works at all then technically it works. However if I company is misleading and has false advertising I believe that is unethical. 1. Culture is taken very seriously in many countries and to go against ones culture just to sell a product seems unethical. If the company is from that country it seems to be demeaning the cultural norms, and if the country is from a foreign country then they are just being ignorant to culture of other countries. 2. When it comes to any cosmetic brand or makeup it may seem the makeup companies are implying women are ugly or not good enough. The Fair & Lovely advertising may seem demeaning but much like other brands they are just making up a storyline, obviously a cream is not going to make you find a husband or get a job. Every woman just wants to look better. If Indian women feel better with lighter skin (like most Americans feel more confident with tanner skin) then let them decide what they want to do to feel beautiful. 3. I believe HLL’s Fair & Lovely Foundation is a great step to receiving forgiveness and regaining lost customers, however some opinions cannot be changed. 4. After AIDWAS’s charges Fair & Lovely should promote without getting too deep, there is no reason culture and family issues need to be used to get a point across about a product. They can simply...
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...Jamaal James International Marketing Case 2-2: Fair and Lovely Just as tanning plays a huge role in most of the Western countries; in India Skin lightening treatments are becoming increasingly popular. The Indian people perceive fairer complexion females to be more dominant and respected. Therefore skin-lightening treatments became a huge industry which was dominated by Fair & Lovely from Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL). They were responsible for 90 percent of the market shares until CavinKare Ltd launched Fairever, which grew and gained 15 percent shares in the market. Wanting to regain their dominance in the market HLL decided to put out their new campaign ads which to the All India Women’s Democratic Association (AIWDA) basically conveyed the message that “if she is not fair in color, she won’t get married or wont get promoted.” This of course created a huge problem in India, which forced HLL to switch their campaign strategies and pay more respect to the women of India and their culture. 1. I think it is very clear to say that HLL was ethical in most of its campaign to sell its’ product. The country and culture has had a huge demand for skin lightening treatments for a long time; HLL has done nothing wrong but tried to give the people what they truly desire. Many women think that their skin tone will define them as a woman in society, therefore they are willing to seek any means to acquire what they believe is the perfect skin tone. HLL saw a great opportunity, took...
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