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Ib english a written task 2

Ib english a written task 2

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Rationale

This written task is based on Part 2 of the English course. Part 2 aims to demonstrate how

language and imagery are used in advertisements to persuade the audience and the ideological

influence advertisements have on the audience. This written task focuses on raising awareness

about how advertisers’ use of stereotypes can negatively impact the audience. A quintessential

example of writing used to raise public awareness and prompt action is a speech. My speech

is going to demonstrate how Unilever’s use of stereotypes to sell their product, Fair & Lovely,

can influence the targeted audience with the ideology of whiteness as a standard beauty and

perpetuate the worst stereotypes about dark-skinned people. Although this speech is a

counter-attack to the to the Fair & Lovely ad campaign, it is an awareness campaign

dissuading dark-skinned women to buy this whitening product. The speech will be delivered

by an Indian woman at a local school, and will specifically target a younger audience, as they

are easily influenced by fairness cream advertisements.

By using speech as a mode of communication, I will have a direct contact with the audience

in order to inspire them to take action. I am going to communicate my reasons by using the

three appeals to appeal to the audience–pathos, ethos and logos. Ethos will be highlighted

through the speaker’s mandate to speak to the crowd. Due to the Indian woman’s experience

with how the product has affected her self-esteem, I appeal to safeguard others from falling

into this vicious cycle. This will add to the credibility of the speech and the speaker. Pathos

will be highlighted using anecdotes that draw in an emotional response from the audience.

Lastly, logos will be highlighted through evaluating Unilever’s subliminal messages, using a

Fair & Lovely commercial as an example.

[Word Count: 299]

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Written Task

Unfair and Lovely: The Reality of Skin Lightening Advertisements

Does us wanting to be fair have anything to do with our personal preference? Or is it about racism? Is

the skin lightening industry really ‘Fair and Lovely’? As someone who has struggled with my dark

skin complexion, I wanted to come here today, my fellow sisters, to share my experience with the

obsession of attaining ‘fair’ skin and how this damaged my self-esteem. My speech is sincere in the

fact that I can empathise with dark-skinned women who face this problem today.

Three words have impacted me for the longest time, and those three words are Fair & Lovely.

Growing up in a middle-class South Indian household, I would regularly find this particular beauty

product on my mother’s dresser. My mother must have been 30 when I first observed her delicately

massaging the softly-perfumed white cream from the white tube onto her face. And it wasn’t only my

mother, everyone around me used these whitening creams—my friends, my aunt, my grandmother.

This product was everywhere—on the radio, on billboards, on the TV. Wanting to fit in, I did it too.

For so many years, I rubbed creams on my face and body. Being brainwashed by Fair & Lovely

advertisements, I was manipulated to believe that the only way I could succeed in life was if I had fair

skin.

In a country like India, where the majority of the population is dark-skinned, there is a prevalent belief

that dark complexions are inferior to fair complexions. ‘How has this belief impacted us women?’ one

may ask. Darker-skinned women face rejection both in the workplace and from family and friends;

whereas, fair-skinned women often find it easier to gain social status. The result of this? A skin

whitening epidemic. These advertisers are the puppeteers, tricking us into thinking that fair skin will

solve our problems.

Growing up, our dark skin would, if we were to believe the commercials—and we did believe the

commercials—forever demote us to the realm of underachievers. The front of the packaging had the

previous and after images of a model demonstrating how the cream worked. She was suitably forlorn

in the previous image and then content in the after image. It was the tube of that product, Fair &

Lovely, that found its way into my handbag when I was in my early teenage years. It was my most

prized possession, my trusted companion, and my friend. I would carry it everywhere. It granted me

the confidence and hope that I’d been denied in the Indian society.

Unilever repeatedly employs the same strategies and patterns in their Fair & Lovely advertisements.

Marketed in over 38 countries, the Fair & Lovely adverts in these countries typically depict a

depressed woman’s transformation into a brighter future by getting a job or a boyfriend visibly after

becoming ‘fairer’. This is emphasized by several silhouettes of her face lined up from dark to light

skin. So ultimately, her success results from transitioning to a lighter skin complexion.

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Rationale This written task is based on Part 2 of the English course. Part 2 aims to demonstrate how language and imagery are used in advertisements to persuade the audience and the ideological influence advertisements have on the audience. This written task focuses on raising awareness about how advertisers’ use of stereotypes can negatively impact the audience. A quintessential example of writing used to raise public awareness and prompt action is a speech. My speech is going to demonstrate how Unilever’s use of stereotypes to sell their product, Fair & Lovely, can influence the targeted audience with the ideology of whiteness as a standard beauty and perpetuate the worst stereotypes about dark-skinned people. Although this speech is a counter-attack to the to the Fair & Lovely ad campaign, it is an awareness campaign dissuading dark-skinned women to buy this whitening product. The ...
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