‘Fair’ to be dropped from skin cream ‘Fair & Lovely’, other brands may follow suit
New Delhi: Consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever on Thursday announced that it will drop the word “fair” from the name of its skin lightening cream “Fair & Lovely”. Hindustan Unilever (HUL) is the Indian arm of consumer goods company Unilever. The announcement comes following the global #BlackLivesMatter movement.
In a statement, the company said the new name of the cream has been decided and is awaiting regulatory approvals.
We’re committed to a skin care portfolio that’s inclusive of all skin tones, celebrating the diversity of beauty. That’s why we’re removing the words ‘fairness’, ‘whitening’ & ‘lightening’ from products, and changing the Fair & Lovely brand name.https://t.co/W3tHn6dHqE
— Unilever #StaySafe (@Unilever) June 25, 2020
“We are making our skin care portfolio more inclusive and want to lead the celebration of a more diverse portrayal of beauty,” Sanjay Mehta, chairperson and managing director of Hindustan Unilever said.
New name of ‘infamous’ cream son
In a press release, Unilever announced “the next step in the evolution of its skin care portfolio to a more inclusive vision of beauty – which includes the removal of the words ‘fair/fairness’, ‘white/whitening’, and ‘light/lightening’ from its products’ packs and communication. As part of this decision, the Fair & Lovely brand name will be changed in the next few months.
The Fair and Lovely brand has been criticised for promoting fairness as a symbol of beauty in an Indian milieu where diversity of skin tones is prevalent.
Celebrities drew flak for promoting Fair & Lovely
The company insists that it was never a skin bleaching product. “Fair & Lovely has never been, and is not, a skin bleaching product,” it said. Other brands under Fair & Lovely may also undergo the name changes. Last week, Johnson & Johnson announced to withdraw its fairness creams.
Recently, many Bollywood celebrities were trolled online for being hypocritical – as they featured in fairness cream advertisements in India but supported the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement in the West.