Aishwarya Rai refuses to endorse fairness

Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan does us proud, again. In a country which is unjustly obsessed with fair skin ' India - Aishwarya Rai recently took a firm stand. She refused to be the Indian face of a skin-lightening cream by a global cosmetic company.

After Aishwraya turned down the offer, the cosmetic company signed Sonam Kapoor to endorse the fairness cream. The cosmetic company is positioning Sonam Kapoor as a 'young face', as opposed to Aishwarya Rai who may now be called the 'older face' of the cosmetic industry. However, a source reveals that the key factor behind Sonam Kapoor being the new face has got nothing to do with her age.

Revealing the real reason for Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan's refusal and Sonam Kapoor's subsequent approval, our source said, "It was the fairness cream that bothered Aishwarya. She said that she didn't want to promote a fairness cream especially in India where one's skin colour is such a big issue. She will never promote a product that discriminates on the basis of one's skin colour. Ours is a society where biases are so prevalent that she will do all she can to curb it."

"When Aishwarya Rai refused to relent, the cosmetic company was forced to get Sonam Kapoor into the picture. They need an Indian face for the promotion of the fairness cream and Sonam Kapoor was the next ideal choice," said our source.

W h e n contacted, A i s h - w a r y a refused to comment as she is contract-bound. Commenting on how Aishwarya Rai has reacted to this, the source said, "Such stories seldom bother her. Aishwarya is primarily guided by her sense of ethics as far as advertising is concerned. She does not endorse products unless she believes in them. She was recently offered a fortune to replace Rani Mukherjee to endorse a popular mosquito repellent cream, but she turned down the offer."