Most Indian women are familiar with India’s cosmetic brand, Lakmé. Several celebrities have starred in its advertisement campaigns–with Ananya Pandey promising 22-hour long-lasting ‘Eyeconic’ Kajal to Kareena Kapoor Khan fashioning vibrant pop of lip colours and the ‘Absolute’ collection.
Lakmé is a household name, a leading brand with massive ad campaigns and marketing events. Lakmé Fashion Week (LFW), a bi-annual runway event in Mumbai, has extended the reach of the brand beyond cosmetics. However, did you know that the brand started as a part of Jawaharlal Nehru’s financial strategy?
In the 1950s, India was a newly independent country, and its economy was still in its nascent stage. At the time, many upper-middle-class Indian women splurged cash on makeup to get that ‘fair skinned look with red lips.’ As they bought cosmetics from international brands, a significant amount of foreign exchange flew out of India into the foreign lands
While Nehru was not concerned with women’s makeup, he noticed how the splurging habits of Indian women effected the Indian economy. To stop the drain of money from India, he felt an Indian brand of cosmetics was necessary.
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