Supreme Courts observations / rulings

Hindustan Unilever and Colgate, both multinationals and well known house hold names / products accused one another of 'unfair Trade Practices before MRTPC [ Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission]. The dirty linen was washed in public. Many details came out. The case details proved that both 'indulged in duping the Public with unsubstantiated claims. refer unfair practices. MRTPC quoted the below mentioned Ruling of the Supreme Court of India, while indicting HUL

 

1. The Supreme Court had ruled that  "the object is to bring honesty and truth in the relationship between the manufacturer and the consumer". And "if the general impression conveyed is false, the most punctilious and scrupulous accuracy in immaterial minutiae will not render the representations true"  [a lie is a lie even if covered with irrelevant packing / excuses and convoluted explanations]

2. MRTPC: "if the claim of "102"% anti- bacterial superiority is ultimately not found to be true, "consumers by and large can be said to have been duped by such advertisement campaign - if the advertised claim is ultimately not found to be true can be substituted for the earlier words within quotes. That is, the observation is not meant for one case but for all tall, dubious and unproven claims

3 Affected Party / Public: 'This injury caused to the public in general can hardly be compensated in terms of money, as the feeling of being duped cannot be evaluated in monetary terms'. This observation is against Hindustan Lever.

[ Hindustan Unilever, Colgate, Johnson & Johnson and many others have violated the terms and spirit of the Law of the Land since then. What is the safeguard for the Public ? None ]

 

You can find below that Hindustan Lever is guilty in terms of the violations of the above said terms and spirit of the Law. They do make very many products. With their dubious claims,  "the object is to bring honesty and truth in the relationship between the manufacturer and the consumer" is highly suspect. You have one power. No Company has the might to fight bad publicity

 

Who am I for this page ?

 

I am the inventor of Swapna Hair Enricher, which can control hairloss and dandruff simultaneously in almost all cases, within 3-4 weeks. I am a Haircare Researcher since 1991. I have gone through many dermatological books. So I do know a bit about hair and skin. Academically, my major area of study was Marketing at IIM, Ahmedabad for the commonly called MBA. My background is M.Sc in Organic Chemistry. I am associated with the Printing Ink Industry since 1971.

I am a senior citizen, annoyed and agitated with the trampling of Supreme Court's rulings / laws - and the public getting duped. The charges against Lever are as under.

 

Background details

Hindustan Unilever / HUL makes Fair & Lovely. It is available in India since about 1978, as a facial product to enhance 'Fairness'. Till December 2011, they have not produced any independent, reliable, proven or statistical record for its efficacy from the Users

It gets a sham market survey done in March 2008. The details are supposed to be at www.totaltruth.com. As the survey itself appears to be a manipulated fake, all inferences based on that seem unreliable. The survey details are now in  fairnlovely2

Truth and Lies - guilty by their self proclaimed certification

 

They have used the term 'total truth' for the website - it cannot be 0.01% less / scope for lies. They set that parameter. 

Even if 1 drop of Gutter Water is mixed with 100 ml of drinking water or say, 0.01%,  it is undrinkable. Let us be clear about that. Even if one word is false / questionable, the integrity of Lever and the product, Fair & Lovely, becomes automatically questionable. It is also against the spirit of the law mentioned at the beginning. They know that. They said that to MRTPC in 1998. And we are with 2008 parcel. This page will mention some of the obvious and obnoxious lies

Charge 1 - unproven for Fairness effect

Fair & Lovely, is not a proven, effective product. Proof lies with simple Common Sense

If an Indian woman has used it for a year or more on the face, what should be the result ? She would have had a White / European face and a normal wheatish / brown body. Simple Common Sense, is it not ?

After all, it has been sold for all these years as a facial product and not as a body lotion in 5 litre packing

No Newspaper, TV has reported so far about such a comic looking person. Even BBC, CNN, Nature, the Science Journal and Vogue would have splashed the news across the World. Hindustan Lever would have got the Noble Prize for this novel break through

No such thing has happened so far in the last 35 plus years. It is a simple, common sense analysis. It means only one thing. Fair & Lovely is still an Unproven, Unsubstantiated product, built on tall claims / lies

Charge 2.  Efficacy - near Zero - Misleading the Public despite admitted 'transient' benefit

 

2a] 'Is the fairness effect permanent? No. The effect is reversible. The skin will return to its original tone in a few weeks, once you discontinue to use the product'.  For a wheatish / slightly whitish person, 'the impact is transient'  / fleeting / temporary - even if used twice a day after face wash, for 4-6 weeks. It has to be used for life time. Got it ?  It just cannot turn a black person into white. Fair & Lovely is a cosmetic product.

Now watch TV advertisements of Fair & Lovely on 15th January 2012 or recall the advertised messages of the earlier 6 years. It is advertised as a Fairness Cream / Fairness enhancer. HUL never conveyed to the Public that the benefit is transient.

What is the gain with a transient impact ? The advertised promised prospect of getting employment, becoming confident to become a Singer all go up in Smoke. The viewers have deliberately been misled / duped

 

2b] Transient - how long it is ? - perhaps one face wash

HUL took out a patent for Fair & Lovely around 1973 basing emphasis on 'whitening ability' of Niacin. Yet the product was introduced only in 1978. The 5 years delay makes me suspect that the product was not functionally that strong. Niacin has therapeutic use in dermatitis, dementia and diarrhoea as per check at Mayo Clinic and Medicine plus on 15th Jan 2012. Niacin, being water soluble is not stored in the body. So Niacin's ability as fairness enhancer is dubious / questionable / lacks medical proofs

Niacin is the base for Fair & Lovely's claimed benefits. As Niacin is water soluble, the impact could be limited till the next facial wash

The delay makes me feel that the patent was taken mainly to deter the competitors, if any and to exploit the craving of the black / brown / persons in Tropical Countries to become a bit fair.

'Our technology is cosmetic in nature and is not intended for 'treatment' of a medical problem such as hyper-pigmentation. Our products deliver a perceivable skin lightening to the consumers and help address other skin issues (such as sun related darkening, oily look, rough appearance) - This is the admission in the website of Fair & Lovely

Deliberate misleading / baseless advertisements

1] Virat Kohli is the model. 14-1-2012. Fair and Lovely is the Max [imum / 2x ]  whitener is the TV advertisement on Sony. Where is the evidence or basis to make this over claim when the fairness effect if any is reversible and the skin will turn back to the original colour within a few weeks of discontinuation. [Side effect - Even Virat Kohli's form has become reversible in Australia. Was it due to Fair & Lovely is a legitimate question ? ]

2] The '1 week challenge' advertisement on TV on TV is a hyperbolic nonsense. The website sings a different tune.

Suppressing from the Public that the effect is transient and discontinuation leads back to original state, is a deliberate act of dishonesty. It is an offence as per the rulings quoted above. Worse than that, besides suppression, they routinely repeat a contrary, baseless, unscientific, dubious picture to the Public on TV. This is Cheating in my view.

charge 3  It is only a Melanin Cleaner named as Fair & Lovely - to fool the Public to have positive connotations and expectations

 

The Skin produces, Melanin, a black pigement, as a protection against Sunlight. The Vitamin B 3 / Niacin has the ability to disperse melanin. Fair & Lovely is only cleaner / remover of the accrued / accumulated melanin / blackness during the day. Niacin has the ability to make Melanin, water dispersible. That is all and nothing more for fairness feature

To express bluntly, Fair & Lovely is a blackness reducer and not a Fairness improver as the name implies

The name lulls the Public to expect some positive benefits from the product which is unwarranted. Even this is against the spirit of the Law stated earlier. There is no product or vitamin to improve Fairness of the skin. Surgery is one option available now. This is the position as of 2008 as per details in Mayo Clinic web site.

If you expose yourself less to Sunlight, melenin production would be less / fairness would improve a shade better. If a person sits in an air conditioned room, the whole body becomes a bit more fair. Is that not better ? Who wants fair face and black / brown body ?

Another way is to apply 2-3 drops of oil mixed with water to the face. [ F & A cream has in built oil coat - check contents ] An Oil coat is made. Then apply lightly talc. These 2 together act as barrier to Sunlight - as the sunscreen agents in Fair & Lovely may do!

 

charge 4. Is Fair & Lovely, just Rs 150 worth water washable white paint or Fairness enhancement wonder worth Rs 2000 ?

Fair & Lovely Ayurvedic Care - skin lightening action of ultra violet (UV) sunscreens and niacinamide,  (Vitamin B3). All the oil & fat used in Fair & Lovely products are of vegetable or synthetic origin only.  

Our technology is cosmetic in nature and is not intended for 'treatment' of a medical problem such as hyper-pigmentation. Our products deliver a perceivable skin lightening to the consumers and help address other skin issues (such as sun related darkening, oily look, rough appearance) Fair and Lovely website, 13-1-2012

If Lever says that they do not use Hydroquinone, we can accept that for reasons below

You have been fooled if you expected or believed something more from Lever on the basis of the advertisements on TV. Common sense demands that we do not rate other Fairness Creams highly though I have not gone through the details of others.

Now check the product contents stated above. Vitamin B3, Sunscreens, vegetable or synthetic / mineral / paraffin oil cannot give whiteness. If these could do, for which Lever got a patent registered around 1972, why the addition of Titanium Dioxide now ?

 

Titanium Dioxide is now being added to get the white colour. About 5% Titanium Dioxide, a pigment, is used in the Cream

Got it ? It is just a water washable dilute white paint

 

And it is the strongest white pigment - over 10 times stronger than lime / white wash, as per my recollection. Will not Titanium give whiteness ? To give a common example, the white plastic bucket that we use at home may have about 5 to 7% Titanium. [ Normally 25% master batch / coloured polythene granules may be used. The white master batches have 20% pigmentation.] So, the whiteness is mainly due to the pigment.

Paint Companies can make a water washable washable white paint for around Rs 150 per litre. If we mix water based gum that we use to stick paper [ Camel gum ], clay, talc or plaster of paris [ available in white colour commercially ] and 3% pigment, we have a water washable white paint. Fairness Cream is sold for over Rs 2500 per litre on retail. Formulation like above, suitably modified, can cost just Rs 150 / litre  MRP on retail. Just check for yourself with water colours that school children use

The scoundrel, Hindustan Unilever is guilty of deliberately misguiding the Public - Making unsubstantiated and dubious claims and duping the Public with unwanted and undesirable deception for the past 33 years with Fair & Lovely.

Perhaps around Aug 2011, there was one advertisement by another seller for 'instant whitener' - apply Talc over cold cream. That is, just oil the face lightly and apply water insoluble and oil mixable talc, hydrated magnesium silicate, which is slightly white. This is better in a way as there is oil coat for keeping the skin supple and barrier to Sunlight. Theoretically, it should work better. But I have no interest to test it out.  Around 1960, application of 'Snow' / and then powder / talc was common in India. They were not sold with too many lies / unbelievable superlative virtues

5 . The  Cheapness:        does not believe in its own claim on TV

1]  Major Claimed benefit   -    Fairness:   did not even dare to verify in the March 2008 Sham Market Survey !

 

Check the features claimed to have been tested with persons who have used one or the other cream

Fairness, the major TV advertised benefit, was not checked at all

Features checked are other than Fairness

features checked Cream 1  Cream 2  Cream 3 Fair & Lovely     Overall Opinion 5.3 about 5.4 near 5.4 5.7     Purchase intention above 4.05 about 4.05 4.0 4.4     Gives me glowing skin near 4.1 near 4.1 4.0 above 4.3     suitable for my skin near 4.07 near 4.07 near 4.2 above 4.3

..'The 4 leading international creams included Fair & Lovely Multivitamin Total Fairness cream, Loreal Relightening Whitening Moisturising Day cream SPF 15, Olay Total Effects cream Normal SPF 15 and Olay White Radiance Day Cream SPF 24'...

All are near equal products on the features tested

Some decimal points could be close approximations from the histograms

 

What / why it,  is then being sold to the Public as Fairness Cream ?

 

Confession / additional proof

Is the fairness effect permanent? No. The effect is reversible. The skin will return to its original tone in a few weeks, once you discontinue to use the product. Fair & Lovely ensures visible radiant fairness for each skin type, This may take 4-6 weeks. This confession of 13th Jan 2012 is from Fair & Lovely website.

So, the survey, interpretations, comparisons, testing for 10 days are all fradulent exercises. And to present them differently to the Public is a deliberate and despicable Corporate moral and ethical standards, if any. Think and review

 

Charge 6 - Dubious / Unsubstantiated Claim - Medical / Scientific misrepresentation

New Fair & Lovely Multivitamin cream is enriched with a revolutionary Biovita complex - a combination of Vitamin B3, B6, C and E. While fighting Colgate before MRTPC, Lever charged Colgate that there is no published evidence for the efficacy of 3% Xylitol to Fluoride content. Lever had a point and won. But by that action, did they not convey to the Court and to the Public, that they are careful of ingredients, and meet the performance efficacy parameters. [ that is above Colgate in Business Ethics ?]

The Biovita seems a non functional additive to trap some. The term is misused to present a larger than life picture to the Public

Truth : Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate [ provitamin C ], Tocopheryl Acetate [ Provitamin E ] and Pyridoxine hydrochloride [ provitamin B6 ] are the listed ingredients in the product.  Pro Vitamins are precursors to Vitamins. That is, instead of using Vitamin C or E, which we buy from Medical shops, Lever have used 'pro vitamins'.  Different terms in Label and the parcel ?

Digestion: The food and other items that we take, goes to the Stomach. It stays there for 3-4 hours. The actual digestion takes place in the small intestine. Liver is the Storage centre for Vitamins. From there, it is released in required quantity.

The Pro Vitamins have to biologically made into Vitamins inside the body. There is nothing called Biovitamin or Indian Vitamin in text books. Now comes the most crucial question. From the food that we take, body biologically makes the Vitamins

 

Can the skin convert these pro Vitamins to Vitamins ? It cannot

 

[ For your information, body absorption of B 12 Vitamin that we buy from Medical shops is only about 1%. It is below 100% for many]

Let them answer the above question / prove to the Public, published evidence of pro vitamins beneficial whitening impact on the skin

 

Charge 7 - Deliberate Fooling of the Public and Government

 

Fair & Lovely is a cosmetic product ? Cosmetic products are not intended for treatment or cure of a medical condition on skin.

Fair & Lovely Ayurvedic Care: Usage of Titanium Dioxide, Synthetic Oils, Vitamins and Sun Screens does not make Fair & Lovely, an Ayurvedic Product. Secondly, Ayurveda is Centuries old Therapy used in India. If there was a way to become Fair, Ayurveda would have found that out long back. As it did not, there was no scope. It is difficult to believe that Lever discovered a way in 1973

Edible products attract lowest percentage of applicable Governmental taxes. Ayurvedic products attract lesser duties compared to Cosmetic Products. The sanctioning personnel in different departments can and do bend the rules.

Lever's Ayurvedic jugglery, I suspect, is an attempt to 'to pay less taxes' than to propagate its virtues to the World

Bombay Customs demanded duty applicable to Cosmetics for Dove. Lever cleared it confessing that it is a Toilet bar.

Charge 8 Habitual Offender

 

Lever have fooled the Public with earlier with pH maintenance, lowering Toilet Soaps standards, making unsubstantiated claim on Toothpaste and presenting 2 versions of Dove - one to Customs and another to Public. refer question Lever for an over all picture

How do I trust them on their words ? They are habitual liars. Do we trust jail birds and employ them as Security personnel ?

 

Charge 9 - Safety

 

a]  Effect of Fair & Lovely is reversible and so is safe. That is what the website says. Why not say it to the Public ?

b] Fairness Creams are not medically proven or prescribed products. Safety of some ingredients are questionable. As I have not touched Hydroquinone after M.Sc days / as an anti oxidant, listen to others at fairness creams

Google results on 25-6-2008 at 1835 hours for Fair and Lovely

In Google or Yahoo search results, you can also find a link to another site critical of Fairness creams. That site by perhaps a Doctor / scientist mentions about the misuse of hydroquinone, the skin lightening material, side effects and long term safety

Fairness Creams - Open Swindle across the World

 

Proctor & Gamble is a bigger company than Lever, 10 years back, when I checked their Sales Figures. P & G do not seem to sell Fairness Creams in India. I have never seen any TV ad.

I am reproducing one news below. It is about Fairness Creams. Colour comes mainly from Heredity. Climate can moderate it. Of course one can indulge in Paints. Did not the Fox became the King for some days because of colouring? - Panchatantra

 

P & G company suspended sales of its SK - II cosmetics line in China

[ Reuters report from Shanghai dated 25-9-2006: published by Business Standard, 26-9-2006]

last Friday after the country's quality watchdog said it found traces of potentially harmful chemicals in the products. The SK-II product line includes skin whiteners, face creams and sun blocks. These products retail between 35 to 300 dollars and are on sales in 14 Countries.

Chinese media reported last week that counters selling Japan made products were forced to close after police broke up an angry crowd demanding refunds --

 

Back to Fair & Lovely / Lever

charge 10.  cannot trust their words - contradictory or confusing

At the outset, the Label in the outer carton gives the game away! Fair & Lovely is the caption at the top of the tube. 'multivitamin' is the prominent bold caption in the middle. The name, Total Fairness Cream is at the bottom of the tube and is in normal font.

The shift / emphasis from Fairness to Biovita is significant. Why ?  It arouses doubts

a] 15th August 2008: Lever's advertisement, perhaps in NDTV Imagine: Fair & Lovely is to be used for 4 weeks to become Fair and one can measure it by the Fairness Metre that they Supply. Does not this advertisement contradicts the message in the carton mentioned above - One is a deliberate bluff ? 5 months after Survey !    '10 days impact was surveyed ? '

b] Use in combination with other products of the range for Total Fairness - Face wash, Night Cream, Sun block Lotion, Winter Cream and Home facial kit are the other products in the range, as specified on the parcel, I think. And a patent for F & A, for Fairness ?

c] Fair & Lovely, one week challenge is their TV advertisement in early December 2011.

The advertisement messages contradict one another. Worse is the fact that some are deliberate lies, if we go by the website.

On TV, Fair & Lovely is advertised as a Use alone product even as of November 2011. On some occasions, they say face wash is to be used with the product. Even for application, there are several versions ! This is again an act of mislead / duping

"the object is to bring honesty and truth in the relationship between the manufacturer and the consumer" - where is it ?

 

Charge 11   Promoting Racism ?

With Fairness Creams, are not Companies promoting Apartheid in a way ? Discrimination on the basis of Skin Colour is against the Constitution of India

The girl who uses Fair & Lovely gains the confidence to sing in Public. Another girl gets employment. These are their recent advertisements in Dec 2011 and Jan 2012.

They are fooling the ladies with transient benefit. And the Users fool others. Good for the Society ! Are we playing a fooling game ?

 

Charge 12  The Survey - defective and unreliable

 

Most of what they Hindustan Lever said on the basis of the Survey done in March 2008, are deliberate lies, distortions, cheap disgusting selling tricks and duping of the public by feeding them, wrong and defective details.

Should anyone believe such a liar and buy their product is my question. You hold the answer

What I wrote earlier, are now in fairnlovely2.

Testing of the Product

 

Shiva Analyticals (India) Ltd., Bangalore and Hall Analytical Laboratories Ltd., United Kingdom have only certified that Fair & Lovely does not contain any harmful chemicals. An analytical Laboratory can only do that.

It is not a test for the efficacy of the product. Let us say, I have removed Rs 1000/ note from my purse and apparel. I ask you to check and testify whether I have a Rs 1000/ note. After checking, you have to certify that I do not carry a Rs 1000 note. It does not mean anything. It is wrong to conclude that I carry no money. I have 2 bundles of Rs 500/- notes. You were asked to testify only about Rs 1000/ note and not asked or paid, to check the money on my person

 

Complain

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, Krishi Bhawan,   New Delhi 110001. Website www.fcamin.nic.in. [ You may complain to them.]

They advertise nowadays on TV about 'Rights and Responsiblities' of the Consumer. How will they protect that right and penalise the guilty is unsaid. Ever since I joined IIM, Ahmedabad in 1967 as a student and took interest in Marketing, not a single case has been taken up against any offending company in the last 44 years

Market Reality

'Politics is the last resort of Scoundrels' is an unbeatable quote of Dr. Johnson, English Author. The crucial word is the term 'last'. I feel many overlook it. Not all can be top class scoundrels. There would be second and third grade of Scoundrels.

The less endowed scoundrels do have to seek employment in vocations other than Politics. Some join Companies also. Some of the Companies / heads can give a run for money even to Politicians.

Roche was hauled up around 2007 for running a Vitamin cartel. Merck, Pfizer and some others were selling anti AIDS medical package in poor pan Sahara Countries for over 1000 Dollars per annum. When Cipla of India offered that at less than 600 Dollars, they all made a hue and cry. Some eventually gave it even free. This 'altruism' will white wash the decade of cheapness

Note: I got some additional details by visiting a dependable site for the Product. So this page got edited again. The sham March 2008 Survey details and the misuse of it to fool the Public, which was earlier in this page, have now been shifted to fairnlovely2.

If there be errors / oversights, please let me know. I would take them into account and reedit this page

 

	Errors and Omissions exempted.  If there be any unwanted oversights, mistake in content or suggestions for improvements,  I will be thankful for your feedback
	Personal website of R. Ranganathan M.Sc., [ MBA - IIMA]    Main / original content: after 2002: last minor modification, Feb 1, 2012