In a massive rebranding move, Hindustan Unilever has decided that it will stop using the word ‘Fair’ in their skin cream ‘Fair & Lovely’.
In recent events, George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, died in Minneapolis, in the United States of America, while he was being restrained by the police. Video footage of the incident, which was broadcast by the media and went viral on social media platforms, showed an officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck as he gasped for breath and later died. This incident gave birth to massive demonstrations across the world. As a result, earlier, Johnson and Johnson had also exited the market following a global momentum against the racism.
In 1975, 45 years ago, Hindustan Unilever had launched Fair & Lovely as a whitening cream. However, due as the usage of the word ‘fair’ in Fair and Lovely places more emphasis on fairness and brightness, it had often been criticized for being racist, for trading the charm of fairness. So now the company has decided to change the name of its brand. Soon the word ‘fair’ will be removed and a new name will be given.
This change in marketing by the Unilever Skin Lightening Cream in South Asia has been long-awaited by many people. This is because whitening creams are opposed on social media and elsewhere for placing beauty standards on women. Beauty is not limited to whiteness or brilliance. Therefore, words like fairness, whitening, lightning will not be in Hindustan Lever's skincare products, the company has said.
However, as for the name, the company has said that the new name will be fixed after obtaining permission from the concerned controller. This comes as a source of good news as several individuals over the generations have objected to the biases against skin colour propagated by the big corporations in the media.
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