Unilever Announces A Rebranding of Its Skin-Lightening Lines Is Underway

Unilever has announced that they are changing the name of their Fair & Lovely line in the wake of a global justice and inclusivity movement. The company acknowledges that its messaging promotes the inappropriate admiration of light skin and that it’s imperative that their target market is broad enough to fit any customer.

Noting this decision as “the next step in the evolution of its skin care portfolio to a more inclusive vision of beauty,” Unilever assures that they will remove words such as “fairness” and “lightening” from their marketing. Although they have yet to announce a new name for The Fair & Lovely brand, it will be declared in the coming months.

Unilever is also changing the aim of these products: “We have progressed all communication of product benefits towards ‘glow’, ‘even tone’, ‘skin clarity’ and ‘radiance,'” the company has noted. “We recognize 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,” explains Sunny Jain, head of Unilever’s Beauty & Personal Care.

Unilever isn’t the only company that’s rebranding and bashing negative portrayal of minorities. Quaker Oats is rebranding all Aunt Jemima pancake products, and Dreyer’s said they will change the name of their cult-favorite Eskimo Pie ice cream, referring to the name as “derogatory.” Johnson & Johnson is also doing its part by discontinuing two lines of skin-lightening products that have a following in Asia: Neutrogena Fine Fairness and Clean & Clear Fairness.