We’re not your chai aesthetic. We’re not your token “diversity” box. We’re done being sidelined.
Let’s talk facts: South Asians are one of the largest diasporas in the world. We’re doctors, designers, dancers, developers. We speak dozens of languages, practice multiple faiths, and carry centuries of cultural legacy.
Yet when we show up in marketing? We’re reduced to bindis, Bollywood, and British accents.
It’s 2025. We’re tired.
🧊 1. The Representation Feels Cold, Not Rooted
We’ve all seen it.
A Holi campaign with zero South Asians on the creative team.
An ad featuring a light-skinned model in a lehenga, smiling beside chai — with no context or culture behind it.
A Ramadan “collab” that centers the product, but not the people.
Representation isn’t just about visibility — it’s about depth.
It’s about whether the culture is being celebrated or simply used.
🤳🏽 2. South Asian Creators = Diversity Decor?
So many Desi influencers get pulled into brand campaigns…
…but only when it’s “on brand” for the calendar:
Eid, Diwali, International Women’s Day, Brown History Month (if that’s even a thing?).
And let’s not even talk about how many dark-skinned, plus-size, hijabi, Dalit, or non-Hindi-speaking South Asians get left out of the picture entirely.
If you only feature us when it’s profitable, that’s not inclusivity — it’s tokenism.
🧕🏾 3. There’s No Room for Our Nuance
South Asia is not a monolith. And yet, mainstream marketing acts like we’re all the same.
Tamil girls and Punjabi boys? Same thing, apparently.
Muslim, Sikh, Hindu? Just vibes, right?
Brown = Brown?
Nope.
Real inclusion = knowing the difference between a sherwani and a kurta, a hijab and a dupatta, Ramadan and Navratri — and respecting all of them.
🪔 4. Culture is Reduced to Symbols, Not Stories
The marketing industry loves to romanticize our aesthetics:
- Mehndi
- Marigolds
- Gold jewelry
- Tandoori
- Sarees
- Spices
But the moment we want to tell real stories — about migration, mental health, faith, colorism, caste trauma, or balancing two worlds — there’s “no budget” or “no audience.”
We are more than henna patterns and Bollywood beats. We are layered, intersectional, global storytellers.
And we deserve space year-round, not just during Diwali or Eid.
🧠 5. South Asians Aren’t Hired to Tell South Asian Stories
This one stings the most.
Often, when South Asian culture is represented, it’s not South Asians behind the campaign.
White creatives writing scripts for brown models.
Agencies Googling “desi fashion” instead of asking us.
Token hires with no real decision-making power.
You cannot market culture if you don’t understand it. And you cannot understand it if you don’t let us lead.
🌺 So What’s the Fix?
We don’t just want more South Asian faces in marketing — we want South Asian leadership.
We want:
- More Desi-owned agencies and creative studios
- Real budgets for brown creatives, not just exposure
- Brands doing cultural research with actual South Asians
- Diverse representation across regions, languages, genders, religions, and skin tones
- Less “representation for likes” and more storytelling for impact
Representation without agency is still erasure.
✨ Final Chai Thought
South Asian women are not here to be side characters in your global diversity campaigns.
We’re founders, freelancers, content creators, brand builders, and cultural curators.
We deserve to see ourselves fully, honestly, and unapologetically — not through a whitewashed lens, but through our own.
If you’re tired of being the only brown girl in the room, know this:
You’re not alone. You’re a force. And you’re building the room they never imagined we’d own.
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