MAM
Fogg maker takes on fairness creams with Pretty24
MUMBAI: Taking a stab at fairness creams’ perennial message of fair skin being the benchmark of beauty and success, Fogg deodorant maker Vini Cosmetics (Vini) is touting the idea that every shade of skin is equally beautiful. The company has been plugging the primetime of mainline television channels for the past fortnight or so with the TVC of its latest product Pretty24.
Pretty24 is taking on the might of the entire fairness (read: skin lightening) cream category–which has grown to more than$600 million a year and is dominated by Hindustan Unilever’s (HUL) Fair & Lovely, Emami’s Naturally Fair, Cavincare’s Fairever Fairness , among others. Its positioning: a facial cream which rejuvenates, beautifies, and protects without any claim of lightening the skin shade.
The estimated Rs 700 crore turnover Vini Cosmetics is promoted by one of the breakaway brothers, Darshan Patel, of Paras Pharmaceuticals (the maker of Moov, Itchguard and Krack). And he’s got the funding of two large private equity firms—Bay Capital (9 percent) and Sequoia Capital (12 percent).
Speaking to a financial publication, Patel said: “Personal care brands have all along made consumers believe that one achieves fairness through application of skin creams. But one can never change one’s skin tone. One may minimise or repair the damage caused by aging and pollution, but never change the tone. Pretty24 would liberate Indian women from the discrimination based on skin tone.”
Sources indicate that he has kept aside an advertising budget of around Rs 4 crore for the Pretty24 launch campaign.
The TVC features five dusky determined pretty lasses marching into a beauty products showroom/salon with a mission.
One of them knocks over standi-tubes of fairness creams accusingly stating that first women were taught that only if you are fair, you are beautiful.
Then another of them speaks to the camera bitterly stating that hope was created amongst the dark skinned that fairness is possible.
The third young girl then voices her anguish that every moment they made us feel that only fair folks are considered a success.
The fourth young lady then says what many an Indian girls may be feeling: “They never told us the truth. That human skin can never be lightened.”
Finally, all of them say “enough of this fairness” and toss the tubes away. And up comes the voice over: Pretty24 for all skin colours. And the girls come back and state: “Pretty24. Change your thoughts, not your skin colour.”
The Pretty24 TVC is nothing to write home about in terms of its production or fancy VFX or creative values. It follows Patel’s belief that ads need not entertain, rather they should inform. Speaking to Forbes a year and a half ago he had stated: “Most advertising is 90 percent entertainment and 10 percent knowledge; I have always done the opposite with my advertising.”
His Fogg TVC, too, had demonstrated very openly that the deo had less gas than other long-selling competitors in the market. It featured two glasses; in one of them Fogg is sprayed and in the other a common deo. While the glass with Fogg visibly filled up with each spray, the other glass barely did, indicating the vapour that dissipated.
That TVC worked well for it and it became the number one deo brand, leaving behind HUL’s Axe.
Patel is a savvy marketer. Earlier his company had launched a face cream called Glam-Up, which was promoted as a product to be used on special occasions, which would transform a woman into a glamorous beauty. One of the TVCs had shown a modern young woman, waking up in a golden party dress at home and slowly rising and saying that she is not the fairness type, she is rather the glam type and she uses Glam-Up.
Additionally, he had also launched a face powder called White Tone which was sold on the benefits of giving users an even facial tone, an oil free look and a fair complexion. Those initiatives left a relatively superficial impression on the target audience.
Will he succeed in disrupting the fairness cream category this time with Pretty24? It’s going to be a pretty interesting slugfest.
MAM
Raghu Rai passes away at 83, leaves behind iconic legacy
Padma Shri-winning photographer documented history across 5 decades.
MUMBAI: The lens may have stilled, but the stories it captured will never fade. Raghu Rai, one of India’s most celebrated photojournalists, passed away on April 26, 2026, at the age of 83. He breathed his last at a private hospital in New Delhi after battling cancer and age-related health issues.
His son, Nitin Rai, revealed that Rai had been diagnosed with prostate cancer two years ago, which later spread to the stomach and, more recently, the brain. Despite multiple rounds of treatment, his health had declined in recent months.
Born in 1942 in Jhang, Punjab (now in Pakistan), Rai entered photography in his early twenties, inspired by his elder brother, photographer S. Paul. Beginning his career in the mid-1960s, he went on to build a body of work that spanned more than five decades, contributing to global publications such as Time, Life, GEO, Le Figaro, The New York Times, Vogue, GQ and Marie Claire.
His global recognition took a decisive leap in 1977 when legendary French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson nominated him to join Magnum Photos, placing him among the world’s most respected visual storytellers.
Rai’s lens chronicled both power and poignancy. He photographed towering figures such as Indira Gandhi, Dalai Lama, Bal Thackeray, Satyajit Ray and Mother Teresa, while also documenting defining moments like the Bhopal gas tragedy later captured in his book Exposure: A Corporate Crime.
Over the years, he published more than 18 books, building an archive that blended journalism with artistry. His contributions were recognised early when he was awarded the Padma Shri in 1972 for his coverage of the Bangladesh War and refugee crisis. In 1992, he was named “Photographer of the Year” in the United States for his work in National Geographic, and in 2009, he was honoured with the Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.
Rai is survived by his wife Gurmeet, son Nitin, and daughters Lagan, Avani and Purvai. His last rites will be held at Lodhi Cremation Ground in New Delhi at 4 pm on Sunday.
With his passing, Indian photojournalism loses not just a pioneer, but a patient observer of history, one frame at a time.
