Hindustan Unilever to drop controversial tag 'Fair' from flagship brand 'Fair & Lovely'
The new name still awaits regulatory approvals, and the company is expected to change the name in a few months.
'Fair & Lovely' official website
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is aiming for a total rebrand of its flagship brand by the word `Fair` in the product, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
The new name still awaits regulatory approvals, and the company is expected to change the name in a few months.
“Taking forward the brand’s journey towards a more inclusive vision of beauty, the company will stop using the word ‘Fair’ in the brand name ‘Fair & Lovely’,” HUL said in a press release.
Moreover, the company will remove words such as ‘fair/fairness’, ‘white/whitening’, and ‘light/lightening’ which could indicate transformation towards fair skin.
“The brand’s vision is to adopt a holistic approach to beauty that cares for people, that must be inclusive and diverse - for everyone, everywhere. The brand is committed to celebrating all skin tones,” it added.
The brand and the celebrities who endorse it courted several controversies for its glorification of white skin as the epitome of beauty, and some of its ads accused of being racist in the past.
To rectify its mistakes, the brand’s communication moved away from the benefits of fairness, whitening and skin lightening, towards glow, even tone, skin clarity and radiance, which are holistic measures of healthy skin in early 2019.
It also said that it's changing its approach towards advertising by featuring women of different skin tones.
“We are making our skincare portfolio more inclusive and want to lead the celebration of a more diverse portrayal of beauty. In 2019, we removed the two faced cameo as well as the shade guides from the packaging of Fair & Lovely and the brand communication progressed from fairness to glow which is a more holistic and inclusive measure of healthy skin. These changes were very well received by our consumers. We now announce that we will remove the word ‘Fair’ from our brand name Fair & Lovely. The new name is awaiting regulatory approvals, and the pack with the revised name will be available in the market in the next few months,” Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, HUL said.