In a country like India where the word ‘beauty’ has always been associated with the word ‘fair’, this new change by Hindustan Unilever is an answer to all the hypocrites who think that fair is beautiful.
Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) today said it will stop using the word ‘Fair’ in its ‘Fair & Lovely’ skin cream, in a move that comes after years of protests that it promotes prejudice over skin colour.
The company said it was “taking forward the brand’s journey towards a more inclusive vision of beauty”.The new name is awaiting regulatory approvals and will be adopted in the next few months.
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
Fair & Lovely’s Journey
First introduced in India decades ago, Fair & Lovely became a bestselling product — racking up sales of about Rs 4,000 crore last year — as it tapped into the perspective that equated fairness with beauty. That positioning was criticized by many for promoting colorism in a country where a large part of the population is brown-skinned.
“Over the last 18 months, the brand’s communication and packaging have moved away from promoting fairness,” said research firm Investec, adding that the change in the brand’s positioning would impact near-term sales even though it was “necessary from a longer-term and social That.
The product’s journey has not been without controversy. It once reportedly claimed that “90 percent of Indian women want to use whiteners because it is aspirational, like losing weight. Fair skin is, like education, regarded as a social and economic step up.”
The brand, going forward, will be more focused on the representation of women with different skin tones, the company said. It added that the rest of the skincare portfolio will also reflect the new vision of beauty.
