BUSINESS STATISTICS TERM

PAPER
Section:B

Submitted To
Prof.Dr.M.Jahangir Alam
Professor
University of Dhaka
Faculty of business administration

PREPARED BY
MD.TOWSIF REZA
ID#40060
 PERCEPTIONS OF GENERAL CONSUMERS
TOWARDS MARKETING OF FAIRNESS CREAM
IN BANGLADESH
TABLE OF CONTENTS

# Topic Page No.

1. Introduction 1
1.1 Overview 1
1.2 Rational 1
1.3 Broad Definition/Statement 2
1.4 Specific Definition/Statement 2
1.5 Variables Identification 2
1.6 Hypothesis 3
2. Literature Review 5
3. Methodology 8
3.1 Type of Research 8
3.2 Questionnaire Preparation Process 8
3.3 Questionnaire Purification 9
3.4 Questionnaire Break Down 9
3.5 Sample Selection process 9
3.6 Field work 10
3.7 Sample Profile 10
Appendix: Research Questionnaire 26
4. Data Analysis 14
4.1 Frequency Distributions 14
4.2 One Sample T-Test 17
4.3 Paired Sample T-Test 18
4.4 Correlation and Partial Correlation 19
4.5 Regression 20
4.6 Findings 23
Appendix: One Sample T-Test 28
Appendix: Paired Sample T-Test 34
5. Recommendations 24
6. Conclusion 25
References 26
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This research paper is made as a partial requirement for the course titled Business statistics at
University of Dhaka. This study is an attempt to find out the factors that influence in building
the perceptions of the general consumers in Bangladesh about the marketing activities of
fairness cream. Though this study is based on the people of Dhaka city only, it can be presumed
that it will present an overall picture of the perceptions of the people of Bangladesh. As this
research draws a picture of the perception of the general consumers about the marketing
activities of fairness cream, it will help the marketers of fairness cream products to come up
with better and improved promotional activities about which general consumers will have
better perceptions.
This research is a conclusive research. The questionnaire was prepared from the ideas I got
from earlier studies done on related topics outside Bangladesh. Later, my questionnaire was
modified by my faculty member through a proper purification process.
The research offered some interesting finding like general consumers of Bangladesh do not
think fairness cream advertisements are deceptive or cause any social problems even though
people from other countries think differently. However, Bangladeshi general consumers think
that the message conveyed in the marketing activities of fairness cream is not always
trustworthy and sometimes creates segregation among people. They also think the price is not
really reasonable and there is a clear indication that with higher price, the overall advertising
campaign becomes less convincing even though the message of the advertisement remains clear
and precise.
My research is also going to help marketers by giving them room for improvement in the
promotion of fairness creams according to the perceptions of general consumers that I have
found out from this research. This research will also give general people a basic idea of what
likeminded people are thinking about the same issue. Marketers can improve their current
advertising system from the findings of my research. However, it also demonstrates the
differences in the attitudes of the general consumers from Bangladesh and abroad. Marketers
can use this information to plan their future marketing campaigns in Bangladesh.
1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Overview

Fairness cream is one of the most popular products in the cosmetics industry today (Munjal,
2014). There are several brands from reputed companies who are fighting in the market with
their own marketing strategy. They are trying to make the best use of their marketing resources,
knowledge and ability to ensure the profit and place in the competitive market. However, these
marketing activities may raise some questions from time to time. There are many things people
do not like about these fairness product’s marketing strategies. Sometimes people think these
advertisements are conveying false messages or sometimes they think it is abusive as the way
the messages are given (Munjal, 2014).
However, no proper research is done on this specific topic about what general consumers are
thinking about the fairness cream in Bangladesh till today to the best of my knowledge. So it
was an opportunity for me to contribute to this field of research and to see what general
consumers are actually thinking about these brands’ marketing promotions.
My research will be based on my own primary data and also the secondary data I have found
over the internet. The research will be analyzed after the data has been collected and will be
presented using the automated statistical software like SPSS.

1.2 Rationale

This study is an attempt to find out the factors that influence in building the perceptions of the
general consumers in Bangladesh about the marketing activities of fairness cream. Though this
study is based on the people of Dhaka city only, it can be presumed that it will present an
overall picture of the perceptions of the people of Bangladesh.
As this research draws a picture of the perception of the general consumers about the marketing
activities of fairness cream, it will help the marketers of fairness cream products to come up
with better and improved promotional activities about which general consumers will have
better perceptions.
Moreover, this research will help general consumers to know what their likeminded people are
thinking about the similar topic about fairness creams. This will have great impact on their
belief of their current level of perceptions about the marketing of fairness creams.

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 1.3 Broad Definition/Statement
Examining the perception of general customers about the ethical issues of fairness cream
marketing in Bangladesh.

1.4 Specific Definition/Statement

Exploring the perception of general consumers towards advertisement message, inequality
issues, lowering self-confidence issues, racist approaches, sexist issues, rejection fear creation
issues, social harm issues, discrimination creating issues, using women empowerment as a
mean to approach issues and the threat it is for the people with darker skins became of the
fairness cream marketing in Bangladesh.

1.5 Variables Identification

Selection Process:
My primary focus on selecting the variables was from the earlier studies done on the similar
topic in other places. I have used some of my own judgments to come up with some more
variables.

Selected Variables:
▪ Deceptive advertisement message- Three is a common conception about the message
given in the advertisements in fairness cream advertisements are lies
▪ Provokes inequality- These marketing activities are thought to be making people
unequal based on the skin colors
▪ Destroys people’s self-confidence- People get demotivated of their own skin complex
▪ Racist approach- Judging people based on skin color is a serious act of racism
▪ Sexist issues- Models used in the marketing campaigns use sexuality as a mean to
influence consumers to purchase fairness cream
▪ Creates fear of being rejected- Darker skinned people gets the fear of being rejected
▪ Causes social harms- Black people are abused in the society for these marketing
activities
▪ Discriminatory message- There is a clear message given in these advertisements that
if anyone is black they are different in a negative way
▪ uses women empowerment as a mean of advertising- Fairness products campaigns
try to tell that they are empowering women whereas the real goal is to increase sales
▪ Threating for people with dark skins- People with darker skin color gets threat from
these marketing activities

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 1.6 Hypothesis

Ho1: General consumers think that the message given in the marketing of fairness cream is
deceptive.

HA1: General consumers do not think that the message given in the marketing of fairness cream
is deceptive.

Ho2: General consumers think that fairness cream marketing creates sexist issues.
HA2: General consumers do not think that fairness cream marketing creates sexist issues.

Ho3: General consumers believe that fairness cream’s marketing is one of the reasons for the
creation of social problems.

HA3: General consumers do not believe that fairness cream’s marketing is one of the reasons
for the creation of social problems.

Ho4: General consumers think that fairness cream brands are using women empowerment just
as a mean to do advertisements.

HA4: General consumers do not think that fairness cream brands are using women
empowerment just as a mean to do advertisements.

Ho5: General consumers think that marketing activities of fairness cream is trustworthy.
HA5: General consumers think that marketing activities of fairness cream is not trustworthy.

Ho6: General consumers believe that celebrities are properly used in the marketing of fairness
cream.

HA6: General consumers believe that celebrities are not properly used in the marketing of
fairness cream.

Ho7: General consumers think that price of fairness cream is reasonable.

HA7: General consumers think that price of fairness cream is not reasonable.

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Ho8: General consumers think that marketing of fairness cream creates segregation among
people.

HA8: General consumers do not think that marketing of fairness cream creates segregation
among people.

Ho9: General consumers think that marketing of fairness cream creates crisis of confidence in
people with other skin color.

HA9: General consumers do not think marketing of fairness cream creates crisis of confidence
in people with other skin color.

Ho10: General consumers believe that marketing of fairness cream is biased against people
with darker skin.

HA10: General consumers do not believe that marketing of fairness cream is biased against
people with darker skin.

Ho11: General consumers think that the marketing activities of fairness cream is persuasively
concise.

HA11: General consumers do not think that the marketing activities of fairness cream is
persuasively concise.

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2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The presence of fairness cream in the market to make consumers’ skin fair is not a recent thing.
Introduction of fairness cream dates back to couple of decades. Especially when Hindustan
Unilever (then Hindustan Levers) introduced their first fairness cream in the Indian market
replacing the local organic products (Bhatt, 2014). Since then, fairness cream has become a
popular thing in the countries where people with less fair skin lives. However the question is,
what impact these fairness cream brands are having on the society by their marketing efforts to
raise their sales.

Over the times there has been many arguments about the marketing strategy of the fairness
products. Companies have criticized for their questionable marketing efforts. To illustrate, let’s
talk about what Verity Brighton’s Global Observations found out about it. Verity Brighton’s
observation found out that in the marketing campaigns, the fairness product brands try to send
a message that if you are not white, you are not equal. That’s why the advice both male and
female to use their products to be equal. This is a complete offence in the eyes of Verity
Brighton for creating these inequality issues. They have named this situation as the ‘Snow
White Syndrome’ (Brighton, 2014).
Verity Brighton also found out that the advertisements these fairness product brands prepare
for their promotions are sometimes saying that fairness is necessary for women empowerment.
They are saying that their focus is on women empowerment but Verity Brighton thinks it is
justt another way to trick the consumers and raise their sales (Brighton, 2014).
Besides, BBN Community also figured out from their activity in which the represented a
Nigerian person who is of a dark complexion has come to visit India. There he found out in the
television the fairness cream advertisements and for the first time in his life he came to think
that was it bad that he was black? That is what BBN Community is trying to say that these
media activities of fairness products are destroying people’s self-confidence (Sutradhar, 2013).

A research conducted on the Indian College Students about their perception about fairness
cream. From that study it was revealed that nearly 52% of the respondents Ire dissatisfied with
the present advertisement campaigns of the fairness cream. Whereas, 42% of the respondents
had no idea about which brand’s advertisement was that. Besides, 34% of the respondents felt
that the advertisement given for the fairness cream cheats them as those products never work
as the way said in the advertisements (Rajmohan, n.d.).
There was another research conducted on 75 women in India about the ethical perspective of
fairness creams. The findings of the research was of real concern for both general people and
the companies. In that study, consumers Ire asked if they thought that their perception of these
fairness creams Ire influenced by the advertisements or not. 55% of the respondents said that
they Ire influenced to purchase a specific brand of fairness cream became of the advertisements
and 29% opposed to this opinion (Gundala & Chavali, 2005). After that, the consumers Ire
directly asked what they thought about the ethical issues about the fairness

5
Products advertisements. Only 20% of the respondents said that those advertisements Ire
actually ethical and 56% said that they thought the advertisements Ire actually unethical
(Gundala & Chavali, 2005). In response to their thinking of why they thought that
advertisements of fairness products Ire unethical, 36% of the respondents said that those
advertisements Ire Deceptive. 100% of the respondents thought that those advertisements Ire
Racist. 88% respondents thought that those advertisements Ire Sexist and 45% thought that
those advertisements Ire Threating for them (Gundala & Chavali, 2005). Moreover, these
respondents Ire also asked whether they experience the fear of being rejected after viewing a
fairness product advertisement 87% of them answered positively. Meant 87% women from that
research work felt they might get rejected became of these kind of promotional activities from
these companies (Gundala & Chavali, 2005).

These skin-whitening creams reveal the dark side of the beauty industry, this is what The
Guardian thinks of these products. In one of their articles they have said that even though the
cosmetics industries relied on convincing people that they are not complete without a specific
product, this skin-whitening creams uses the racial hierarchy to promote their products. This
thing causes intolerance and creates serious social harms (Hoskins, 2014).
Women of Worth, an Indian NGO started their ‘Dark is Beautiful’ campaign. They are trying
to establish the fact in people’s mind that being dark is not a bad thing. However, skin-
whitening products are doing the harm in the society, that what the campaign's director, Kavitha
Emmanuel thinks. She said "Skin color bias affects people psychologically.” (Hoskins, 2014).

While talking about the impacts of fairness cream advertising, the situation of Emami should
be mentioned. Emami launched a TVC campaign starting Shah Rukh Khan who says in the
advertisement that the secret to success in his life was his fairness. ‘Dark is Beautiful’ campaign
instantly filed a petition on Change.org by asking Emami to ban their advertisement became it
is too discriminatory (SEGRAN, 2013).
To see what some key people related to this field thinks about these fairness cream
advertisements who should look at what fashion expert Prasad Bidapa said. He said that he is
utterly disappointed with the fairness cream campaigns which says brown or black skin is bad.
He thinks that this is a way to increase the prejudices against brown skin (Chowdary, 2012).
Besides, feminist Arundhati Ghosh thinks that advertisements of fairness creams are
hypocritical. She said that the term ‘fairness creams’ is bad in itself becamee it sounds totally
racist (Chowdary, 2012). Chairman of MAA Group Holdings Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Bunty Peerbhoy
thinks that the product which is fairness cream, it has no problem staying in the market as long
as it is not physically harming anyone. But he shoId his grudge against the advertisement
approach. He said that fairness creams advertisements are offensive and that’s why he does not
like their advertisement approach (Chowdary, 2012).
Several celebrities also thinks negatively about how fairness cream advertisements are being
made. They said that they never want to be in a fairness cream advertisement as it does not feel
right. Bollywood actor Aamir Khan said that “It’s a shame that some people are endorsing and
selling these products, I would never do that." (It's a shame that people endorse fairness
products: Aamir Khan, 2014).

6
These recent events Ire triggered specially by the ‘Dark is Beautiful’ campaign. Indian model
Nandita Das took a step forward to endorse this campaign whereas the regular Indian celebrities
Ire doing the opposite. She said that she was motivated to do this became she wanted people to
feel more comfortable about their own skin color (Rajesh, 2013).
Same kind of thing has also been done in Bangladesh recently. Became of people’s perception
about the approach of the marketers of fairness cream was criticized, Square Toiletries Ltd.
launched their Meril Splash campaign which delivered the message ‘Fresh is beautiful, NOT
Fairness!’ (KHAN, 2014). These are being done nowadays to avoid the criticisms of the regular
fairness product campaigns.

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3. METHODOLOGY

3.1 Type of Research

Based on my research topic I am going for Conclusive Research Design as it is a task of testing
specific hypothesis and examining relationships. Then I will move to Descriptive Research
Design which will be a Multiple Cross Sectional research design.

3.2 Questionnaire Preparation Process

My questionnaire is prepared based on my literature review and on my own thinking. I tried to

incorporate the most important factors that can be vital regarding the different perception of the
respondents towards the messages of fairness cream advertisements. My questionnaire is
designed and divided into four sections.
Section A includes the demographic information. Among the demographics, I selected age,
gender and education level. The age group is divided into three segments. The segments are
15-25, 25-40 and 40-rest accordingly. The education level is categorized into five separate
levels. The levels are SSC/O level, HSC/A Level, Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Higher
studies. I divided the education level in such a way that it almost covered all the general
consumers related to my targeted sample.
Section B includes some questions to ask about the awareness of the people regarding fairness
cream and its advertisements. I have used my filter question there at Question #1. There,
whether or not they use fairness cream; if they answered ‘Yes’ then I eliminated the respondent
as I assume that they like the overall advertisement policy and therefore they have purchased the
cream. So I used this filter question to come to my target samples. Then the following two
questions I have asked them about their familiarity with the marketing activities and
advertisements of fairness creams.

Section C is the most important part of my questionnaire which consists of 15 individual

questions. All of them are basically some statements regarding my hypothesis and the
respondents are asked to answer their opinion through a five point Likert scale. The scale is
coded from 1, which is strongly disagree, to 5, which is strongly agree and putting a neutral
option in the middle. Among the 15 statements, the first 10 are negative. I tried to come up with
the most crucial negative statements that a consumer or a viewer can perceive through the
advertisement messages of the fairness cream brands. Those covered issues which are related
to deceptive advertisement messages, inequality among people, racism, sexist issues, social
problems, discrimination and other unethical means. In the other hand, the later 5 statements
are positive. I tried to find out that if people think that these advertising messages are still
logical or not. To find it out I made positive statements about the trustworthiness, clarity,

8
Proper endorsement use, reasonability and persuasiveness of the marketing activities of the
fairness cream brands.

Section D is the last and the only open ended question asked to my respondents. It is important
became it can help me to get more relative ideas regarding my topic, which cannot be generated
through other sections. A particular space is provided for the respondents to write if they have
any additional comments to mention about the marketing of fairness creams.

3.3 Questionnaire Purification

To make my hypothesis stronger and questionnaire more relevant, I took suggestion from my
honorary faculty member. He checked my questionnaire, evaluated unnecessary questions and
added some more applicable questions to the questionnaire.

3.4 Questionnaire Break Down

I divided my questions into four parts. In Section A asks respondents about their demographic
description. It asks about the respondents Gender, Age and Educational Level.

Section B has three questions. It asks respondent about their usage, purchase of fairness creams
and if they are familiar with the marketing activities of fairness creams. I eliminated the
respondent who is already the user of fairness cream.
In Section C I ask responded fifteen questions in Likert Scale. The range of each question
contains scale of 1 to 5 with categories from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The questions
are regarding people’s perception about fairness cream marketing.

Section D is an opinion box where responded can share their comments related to the marketing
of fairness cream marketing.

3.5 Sample Selection process

I did Random Sampling for my research. Sample are either students or faculty members. My
Sample Size is 100 from where I filtered my respondents only to those who has never purchased
or used fairness cream. The survey is conducted to collect the primary data for the research was
done among students and some faculty members. The sample profile and the frequencies of the
demographics of the respondents also reflect that majority of them are youths and are of
undergraduate level. For the limitation of time I could not collect responses from people outside
of my university but still I believe that my sample size was reasonable and representative
regarding my research topic.

9
 3.6 Field work

To collect data I selected a sample size of 100. I took face to face interview as this the most
reliable way of doing survey. Almost all the responded are students and some are honorary
faculty members.

3.7 Sample Profile

The demographic analysis of my respondents are as below:

Statistics

Gender Age (in years) Education

Valid 67 67 67
N
Missing 0 0 0

Mean 1.4328 1.1194 3.0000

Median 1.0000 1.0000 3.0000

Mode 1.00 1.00 3.00

Std. Deviation .49921 .32671 .42640

Skewness .277 2.402 2.417

Std. Error of Skewness .293 .293 .293

Kurtosis -1.983 3.883 14.929

Std. Error of Kurtosis .578 .578 .578

There are three things that I have need in my demographic analysis. Those are the Gender of
my respondents, their Age and the level of their Education. From the table above, I can see a
summary of all those information.

All three of these dimensions are explained under different headings below:

10
Gender:

Gender

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative

Percent
Male 38 56.7 56.7 56.7

Valid Female 29 43.3 43.3 100.0

Total 67 100.0 100.0

The distribution of male and female respondents is nearly equal which has given me better
rational results of the responses. From the above chart I can see that among the 67 filtered
respondents, 43.3 percent was female and the rest 56.7 percent was male.

11
Age:

Age (in years)

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative

Percent

15 yr-25 yr 59 88.1 88.1 88.1

Valid 25 yr-40 yr 8 11.9 11.9 100.0

Total 67 100.0 100.0

As mentioned earlier, I divided the age group into three segments. And as I conducted my
survey mostly among the students, the age group ranged between 15 years to 25 years has the
highest number of respondents. About 88.1 percent of the total respondents belongs to this age
group. And the other segments, 25 years to 40 has 11.9 percent of the respondents from a total
number of 67 respondents.

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Education:

Education

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative

Percent
HSC/A-Levels 4 6.0 6.0 6.0
Undergraduate 61 91.0 91.0 97.0
Valid
Higher Studies 2 3.0 3.0 100.0
Total 67 100.0 100.0

The whole demographic regarding current education level is divided into five separate levels.
Though I had respondents from all of those levels, the level which was answered most of the
time is undergraduate. Again the reason is that I conducted my survey to collect primary data
mostly among the students of DU. 91 percent of the total respondents are from the
undergraduate level. Other 6 percent was of HSC/A level education background and 3 the rest
3 percent had Higher Studies in their academic background.

13
4. DATA ANALYSIS

4.1 Frequency Distributions

Statistics
Do you purchase fairness
Cream?
Valid 100
N
Missing 0
Mean 2.0100
Median 2.0000
Mode 2.00
Std. Deviation .57726
Skewness .001
Std. Error of Skewness .241
Kurtosis .094
Std. Error of Kurtosis .478

Do you purchase fairness cream?

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative

Percent

Yes 16 16.0 16.0 16.0

No 67 67.0 67.0 83.0
Valid
Rarely 17 17.0 17.0 100.0
Total 100 100.0 100.0

From this frequency distribution I can see that, most of my respondents said that they do not
purchase fairness cream. Only 17% people said that they purchase fairness cream rarely and
only 16% said that they purchase fairness cream on a regular basis. This actually was my filter
question for this data collection. As I targeted to know the perceptions of the general consumers
about the marketing of fairness cream, in my sample profile I worked on those 67 respondents
who never used fairness cream. My research finding is based on their perception on the fairness
cream’s marketing activities in Bangladesh.

14
 4.1 Frequency Distributions

Statistics
What do you think triggers
a person to purchase a
specific brand of fairness
cream?
Valid 67
N
Missing 0
Mean 2.5373
Median 2.0000
Mode 4.00
Std. Deviation 1.22262
Skewness .039
Std. Error of Skewness .293
Kurtosis -1.599
Std. Error of Kurtosis .578

What do you think triggers a person to purchase a specific brand of fairness cream?

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative

Percent
Brand name 18 26.9 26.9 26.9

Product’s marketing
18 26.9 26.9 53.7
campaign
Valid
Past experience 8 11.9 11.9 65.7
Words of mouth 23 34.3 34.3 100.0
Total 67 100.0 100.0

This frequency distribution reveals to me that my respondents think that the most crucial factor
that works while purchasing a brand of fairness cream is people’s word of mouth. However,
product’s brand name and marketing activities’ importance comes next to the mind of my
respondents. Lastly, only very few of my respondents purchase fairness cream based on their
past experiences.

15
 4.1 Frequency Distributions

Statistics
Are you familiar with the
marketing activities of the
fairness cream (i.e. TV
Commercials, Radio
Commercials, and Print
Advertisements etc.)?
Valid 67
N
Missing 0
Mean 1.1940
Median 1.0000
Mode 1.00
Std. Deviation .52912
Skewness 2.715
Std. Error of Skewness .293
Kurtosis 6.331
Std. Error of Kurtosis .578

Are you familiar with the marketing activities of the fairness cream (i.e. TV Commercials,
Radio Commercials, and Print Advertisements etc.)?

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative

Percent
Yes 58 86.6 86.6 86.6
No 5 7.5 7.5 94.0
Valid
Never Really Noticed 4 6.0 6.0 100.0
Total 67 100.0 100.0

I have come to know from this frequency distribution that 86.6% of my respondents know
about different type of marketing activities of fairness cream brands even though they have
never purchased fairness cream for themselves. Only 7.5% people said that they have no idea
about these marketing activities. However, 6% people said that they never really noticed any
fairness cream’s marketing campaign.

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 4.2 One Sample T-Test

Ho1: Consumers think that the message given in the marketing of fairness cream is deceptive.
HA1: Consumers do not think that the message given in the marketing of fairness cream is
deceptive.

T-Test

One-Sample Statistics
N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

Messages being given in the

marketing drive of fairness 67 3.7164 1.20361 .14704
creams are deceptive.

One-Sample Test
Test Value = 0

t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean 95% Confidence Interval of the

Difference Difference

LoIr Upper

Messages being given in

the marketing drive of
25.274 66 .000 3.71642 3.4228 4.0100
fairness creams are
deceptive.

Data Analysis & Interpretation:

From the One Sample T-Test I conducted on SPSS, I have the following findings:

• The Calculated T-Value (25.274) > Critical T-Value (1.67); So I Reject my Null
Hypothesis

• The Significance or P-Value (0.000) < 0.05; So I Reject my Null Hypothesis

So, I can see from both the decision making process that this Null Hypothesis is Rejected.

So I can come in to a decision that “Consumers do not think that the message given in the
marketing of fairness cream is deceptive.”

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 4.3 Paired Sample T-Test
H08: Consumers think that marketing of fairness cream creates segregation among people.

HA8: Consumers do not think that marketing of fairness cream creates segregation among
people.

Paired Samples Statistics

Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

Pair 1
Marketing of fairness cream provokes
3.7164 67 1.13893 .13914
inequality among people.

Marketing activities of fairness creams

3.7612 67 1.10220 .13465
give discriminatory messages.

Paired Samples Correlations

N Correlation Sig.

Pair 1 Marketing of fairness cream provokes

inequality among people. & Marketing
67 .356 .003
activities of fairness creams give
discriminatory messages.

Paired Samples Test

Paired Differences t df Sig. (2-

Mean Std. Std. 95% Confidence Interval tailed)

Deviation Error of the Difference

Mean LoIr Upper

Pair 1 Marketing of fairness cream

provokes inequality among
people. - Marketing activities -.04478 1.27247 .15546 -.35516 .26560 -.288 66 .774
of fairness creams give
discriminatory messages.

Data Analysis & Interpretation:

From the One Sample T-Test I conducted on SPSS, I have the following findings:

• The Calculated T-Value (-0.288) < Critical T-Value (1.67); So I Accept my Null
Hypothesis
• The Significance or P-Value (0.774) > 0.05; So I Accept my Null Hypothesis

So, I can see from both the decision making process that this Null Hypothesis is Accepted. So
I can come in to a decision that “Consumers think that marketing of fairness cream creates
segregation among people.”
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 4.4 Correlation and Partial Correlation

Correlations

The message Overall advertising

from fairness campaign of
cream’s marketing fairness cream is
is clear. convincing.

Pearson Correlation 1 .205

The message from fairness
Sig. (2-tailed) .097
cream’s marketing is clear.
N 67 67
Pearson Correlation .205 1
Overall advertising campaign of
Sig. (2-tailed) .097
fairness cream is convincing.
N 67 67

Here The Pearson’s r is 0.205 which is a positive value. This means that as one variable
increases in value, the second variable also increase in value. Similarly, as one variable
decreases in value, the second variable also decreases in value. So, when the message from the
fairness cream’s marketing is clearer, the overall advertising campaign seems more convincing
to the respondents. However, the correlation is not that strong as the Significance value 0.097
is greater than 0.05.
Correlations

Control Variables The message Overall

from fairness advertising
cream’s campaign of
marketing is fairness cream
clear. is convincing.

Correlation 1.000 .198

The message from fairness
Significance (2-tailed) . .111
cream’s marketing is clear.
The price of fairness df 0 64

cream is reasonable. Correlation .198 1.000

Overall advertising campaign of
Significance (2-tailed) .111 .
fairness cream is convincing.
df 64 0

As I can see from the Partial Correlation, while in the presence of a Control Variable, Price,
and the correlation between these two variable changes. Now it means, when the price is a
controlling factor, the overall advertising campaign becomes less convincing to the respondents
even though the messages being sent over the advertisement is clear. However, the significance
of 0.111 also states that the correlation has become Weaker between these two variables with
the presence of price.

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 4.5 Regression

Model Summaryb

Model R R Adjmete Std. Error Change Statistics Durbin-

Square dR of the R Square F df1 df2 Sig. F Watson
Square Estimate Change Change Change

1 .574a .329 .149 1.16202 .329 1.825 14 52 .060 1.996

a. Predictors: (Constant), The price of fairness cream is reasonable., Marketing activities of fairness creams is
trustworthy., Fairness cream marketing sometimes create sexist issues., The message from fairness cream’s
marketing is clear., Fairness cream’s marketing is threatening for people with darker skins., Messages being given in
the marketing drive of fairness creams are deceptive., The celebrities are properly used in the marketing of fairness
cream., Marketing activities of fairness creams give discriminatory messages., Fairness cream’s marketing destroys
the self-confidence of people with other skin color., Fairness cream’s marketing approach is one of the reasons for
creating social problems., Marketers of fairness cream mees the issue of women empoIrment jmet as a mean to do
advertisements., Marketing of fairness cream provokes inequality among people., Fairness cream marketers mee
racist approaches for their campaigns., Advertisements of fairness creams creates fear among people with darker
skin of being rejected.
b. Dependent Variable: Overall advertising campaign of fairness cream is convincing.

Here, the R value is 0.574. Means, 57.40% of the variables are chosen perfectly. So this
expresses the strength of the R Value to be pretty average. HoIver, the Durbin-Watson value is
1.996 which is really close to 2, meaning the residuals are uncorrelated.
ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 34.502 14 2.464 1.825 .060b

Residual 70.215 52 1.350

Total 104.716 66

a. Dependent Variable: Overall advertising campaign of fairness cream is convincing.

b. Predictors: (Constant), The price of fairness cream is reasonable., Marketing activities of fairness creams is
trustworthy., Fairness cream marketing sometimes create sexist issues., The message from fairness cream’s
marketing is clear., Fairness cream’s marketing is threatening for people with darker skins., Messages being
given in the marketing drive of fairness creams are deceptive., The celebrities are properly used in the
marketing of fairness cream., Marketing activities of fairness creams give discriminatory messages., Fairness
cream’s marketing destroys the self-confidence of people with other skin color., Fairness cream’s marketing
approach is one of the reasons for creating social problems., Marketers of fairness cream mees the issue of
women empoIrment jmet as a mean to do advertisements., Marketing of fairness cream provokes inequality
among people., Fairness cream marketers mee racist approaches for their campaigns., Advertisements of
fairness creams creates fear among people with darker skin of being rejected.

Here the value of F is 1.825 which is pretty low and it is quite good. But the Significance Level
is 0.06 which is a little greater than 0.05. So, even though it’s good, it’s not very significant.

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 Coefficientsa

Model Unstandardized Standardized t Sig.

Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Error Beta

1 (Constant) -.274 1.001 -.274 .785

Messages being given in the marketing drive of

-.284 .165 -.272 -1.717 .092
fairness creams are deceptive.

Marketing of fairness cream provokes

.088 .188 .080 .470 .640
inequality among people.

Fairness cream’s marketing destroys the self-

.331 .188 .306 1.756 .085
confidence of people with other skin color.

Fairness cream marketers mee racist

-.210 .207 -.183 -1.014 .315
approaches for their campaigns.
Fairness cream marketing sometimes create
-.452 .193 -.386 -2.340 .023
sexist issues.

Advertisements of fairness creams creates fear

among people with darker skin of being .282 .218 .240 1.293 .202
rejected.

Fairness cream’s marketing approach is one of

-.033 .189 -.029 -.174 .863
the reasons for creating social problems.

Marketing activities of fairness creams give

.327 .195 .286 1.676 .100
discriminatory messages.

Marketers of fairness cream mees the issue of

women empoIrment jmet as a mean to do .351 .197 .299 1.778 .081
advertisements.
Fairness cream’s marketing is threatening for
-.276 .170 -.259 -1.629 .109
people with darker skins.

Marketing activities of fairness creams is

.190 .157 .166 1.211 .231
trustworthy.

The message from fairness cream’s marketing

.249 .141 .234 1.774 .082
is clear.

The celebrities are properly used in the

.112 .145 .107 .774 .442
marketing of fairness cream.
The price of fairness cream is reasonable. .223 .147 .197 1.512 .136

a. Dependent Variable: Overall advertising campaign of fairness cream is convincing.

Here, I find that 5 coefficients are of negative value, meaning the model for those variables are
not that believable. However, for the rest of the 9 variables, the coefficients are positive. So for
most of the variables, the regression equation is believable. So, I can conclude that for most of
the variables, this regression model is quite believable.

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Developing Regression Equation:
I have conducted a Multiple Linear Regression for my research. I know that a multiple regression
involves a single dependent variable and two or more independent variable.
My dependent variable is “Overall advertising campaign of fairness cream is convincing”.

Besides, I have fourteen independent variables which I have listed in the table given in the
previous page. These independent variables affect the level of perceptions of general consumers
towards the marketing of fairness cream.

I know that for multiple regression, the regression equation for fourteen variables will be like
this:

Y =ß0 + ß1X1 + ß2X2 + ß3X3+ ß4X4+ß5X5+ ß6X6+ ß7X7+ ß8X8+ ß9X9+ ß10X10+ ß11X11+
ß12X12+ ß13X13+ ß14X14
In this equation, Y is the dependent variable.

ß is the Beta Coefficient. It represents the expected change in the dependent variable when
there is a change in the value of X.

ß0 is the Constant. It represents the value of the Dependent Variable in case there are no
Independent Variable(s).

From conducting the Multiple Linear Regression I have found out the following values:
R = 0.574 (regression coefficient is moderate)
R square = 0.329 (association is moderate)
Adjusted R square = 0.149 (association is low)
And according to the Betas, my Regression Equation will be:

Y = -0.274 - .272 * Messages given are deceptive + .080 * Provokes inequality + 0.306 *
Destroys self-confidence - 0.183 * Racist approach – 0.386 * Sexist issues + .240 *
Creates fear - .029 * Social problems + .286 * Discriminatory message + 0.299 * Women
empowerment - 0.259 * Threatening + 0.166 * Trustworthy + 0.234 * Clear + 0.107 * Mee
of celebrities + 0.197 * Price
In these equation, there are both positive (+) and negative (-) values present. The positive values
refers to positive impact on Y and negative values refers to negative impact on Y.

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 4.6 Findings

From my analysis of this research, I have the following finding:

✓ General consumers do not think that the message given in the marketing of fairness
cream is deceptive.
✓ General consumers do not think that fairness cream marketing creates sexist issues.
✓ General consumers do not believe that fairness cream’s marketing is one of the reasons
for the creation of social problems.
✓ General consumers do not think that fairness cream brands are owing women
empowerment as a mean to do advertisements.
✓ General consumers think that marketing activities of fairness cream is not trustworthy.
✓ General consumers believe that celebrities are not properly owed in the marketing of
fairness cream.
✓ General consumers think that price of fairness cream is not reasonable.
✓ General consumers think that marketing of fairness cream creates segregation among
people.
✓ General consumers do not think marketing of fairness cream creates crisis of confidence
in people with other skin color.
✓ General consumers believe that marketing of fairness cream is biased against people
with darker skin.
✓ General consumers think that the marketing activities of fairness cream is persuasively
concise.
✓ When the message from the fairness cream’s marketing is clearer, the overall advertising
campaign becomes more convincing and vice versa.
✓ HoIver, when the price is a controlling factor, the overall marketing activities become
less convincing even with a clearer message.

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5. RECOMMENDATIONS

➢ General consumers think that marketing activities of fairness cream is not trustworthy.
Hence, marketers should increase their perceived trustworthiness; advertisers should
include snippets and comments from trusted media personalities with expertise like
skincare doctors or stylists. They should also abandon the owe of computer generated
images to falsely exaggerate the effectiveness of their product.
➢ General consumers believe that celebrities are not properly owed in the marketing of
fairness cream. Hence, fairness cream advertisers should carefully consider how to
present the celebrities so that the audience empathizes with them and the effectiveness of
the product. Celebrities known to use any particular product from the company should be
hired to promote the product as Ill as reviews from respected expert personalities like
stylists and skincare experts should be used.

➢ General consumers think that price of fairness cream is not reasonable. Hence, the price
of the cream should be specifically highlighted in the advertisements, as to clear any
confusions. It is generally assumed as the more luxurious the ad is, the higher the price
will be of the product. So, these confusions must be terminated with more emphasis on
the price.
➢ General consumers think that marketing of fairness cream creates segregation among
people. Hence, Fairness cream advertisers should be careful about not alienating or
offending their potential customers. Adverts should be neutral without any socio-
economic or geo-political implication. Avoid emphasis on negative factors like
depression, unhappiness etc.
➢ General consumers believe that marketing of fairness cream is biased against people with
darker skin. Fairness cream advertisers sometimes for commercialization lack
distinctness against showing bias towards particular communities both positive and
negative. Hence, they should not highlight stereotypical messages on the basis of skin
color. They should not show dark skinned people as unattractive or less successful in life
or discriminate against them in any perceived way.

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6. CONCLMEION

As I did not find any prior research on Bangladesh on a topic like the perception of consumers
towards the marketing activities in Bangladesh, I think this report is going to give some
definitive ideas about the topic. The research gave back the results like general consumers do
not think fairness cream advertisements are deceptive or causes any social problems. However,
they think that the message conveyed in the marketing activities of fairness cream is not always
trustworthy and sometimes creates segregation among people. Besides, there is a clear
indication that with higher price, the overall marketing activities become less convincing even
though the message being conveyed through the marketing activities is totally clear. That is
how this research will give marketers room for improvement in the promotion of fairness
creams and also gives general people a basic idea of what likeminded people are thinking about
the same issue.

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