The Indian unit of Unilever, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, announced on Thursday, 25 June, that it has decided to drop the word ‘Fair’ from its ‘Fair & Lovely’ range of products.
The Fair & Lovely range of HUL has long been criticised for racism through its advertising and general branding that was discriminatory against people with ‘non-fair’ skin tones.
“We recognise that the use of the words ‘fair’, ‘white’ and ‘light’ suggest a singular ideal of beauty that we don’t think is right, and we want to address this,” said Sunny Jain, president of Unilever’s beauty and personal care division, in a separate statement.
Earlier this month, Johnson & Johnson announced that it will stop selling skin whitening creams.