Fair And Lovely: Unilever Product Decides To Drop Name From Its Product

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Consumer brand Unilever will not be using Fair And Lovely as the name of one of their products any longer as it highlights internalized racism and promotes anti-black sentiments. The product has been around for many years, selling in Asian countries mostly as an international skin whitening brand. The consumer brand released a statement saying that they care about the exclusivity of all skin tones and that is why they will be removing the terms like ‘fairness’, ‘whitening’, and ‘lightening’ from its products.

Fair And Lovely Has A Responsibility For Racial Justice

In a statement, Fair and Lovely told:

“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’. and ‘lightening’ from products, and changing the Fair & Lovely brand name.”

There have been many consumer brands that have taken on the support of the Black Lives Matter movement, even sports like football and car racing. Although these product-based companies decided to support the BLM movement, they continued to sell their skin whitening products.

These products were aimed at countries like India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Indonesia. Unilever made a statement on Instagram to say:

“We demand justice, equity and advancement. We must do our part.
Unilever believes it is our responsibility to take action to create systemic change to address institutionalized racism and social injustice.

We are starting with five focus areas :
– We have pledged more than $1 million to date to organizations and activists working for social justice and racial equality,”

Unilever also unveiled its vision to evolve its Fair and Lovely skincare products. After admitting that the current language gives rise to colorism in various communities. Moreover, the world view suggests that lighter skin tone is better because of its proximity to whiteness. Sunny Jain, president of beauty and personal care at Unilever said that it is important to change the language they use.