‘Fair’ Enough: Popular Face Cream To Change Its Name

Popular ‘fairness’ face cream, ‘Fair & Lovely’, promoted by Hindustan Unilever has decided to remove ‘Fair’ from its name. The brand’s Indian unit on Thursday announced that it will drop the ‘Fair’ from the product’s name. The product had been under severe criticism for several years for allegedly ‘promoting fairness’ and ‘negative’ against the ‘darker’ and ‘dusky’ skin tones.

With growing backlash in social media over the ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘All Lives Matter’ campaigns in support of a community, the company has finally decided to drop the word ‘Fair’ from its product.

“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,” Sunny Jain, Unilever’s president of its beauty and personal care division, said in a statement. “We are making our skin care portfolio more inclusive … a more diverse portrayal of beauty,” Hindustan Unilever Chairman Sanjiv Mehta said today in a separate statement.

Meanwhile, the company indicated that it is looking out for a different name for the product. Social media has welcomed Unilever’s decision to drop ‘Fair’ from its product. Several jokes started circulating online over this move. Unilever is also selling products like Dove, Bru Coffee, Brooke Bond Tea, Knorr, Kwality Wall’s, Magnum Ice cream and several others.