Supriya Pundir The Indian arm of global conglomerate Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) announced on Thursday that it will rebrand the Fair & Lovely and also will stop using words like “whitening”, “fairness” and “Lightening” from its products. This step comes up in the wake of the Black Lives Movement. Many companies around the world started reassessing their business and marketing strategies to overcome the presence or promotion racism and discrimination in their products. ‘Black Lives Matter’ is a movement against racism which erupted in US after the death of George Floyd last month.
Unilever Statement
“We are fully committed to having a global portfolio of skin care brands that is inclusive and cares for all skin tones, celebrating greater diversity of beauty. 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,” said Sunny Jain, President, Beauty & Personal Care, Unilever, in a statement.
Jain said that after changing the advertising, communication and packaging in South Asia, they are taking the next step of changing the brand name. According to a PTI report, the company approached the Controller General of Patent Design and Trademark on June 17 to get the name ‘Glow & Lovely’ registered.
More than 18,000 people in recent weeks have signed the two separate petition which urges the Unilever to stop the production of Fair & Lovely.
Why it’s important for us to highlight this issue?
Fair & Lovely is a skin-lightening cosmetic product of Hindustan Unilever, introduced in India in 1975. This product is available in other Asian countries like Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Indonesia etc.
However, this step of Hindustan Unilever is nothing but a trumpery move. It is only to save its own brand from falling down in the Indian market. Since promoting ‘colorism’ and showing that ‘the more fair you are , the more successful you will be’ is the foundation of this product.
As you know, the criticism is not new. It has been criticized several times in its past but it turned blind eye on its public demands. The question is Why were they pretending to be a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ for so long? Why didn’t they respond or even acknowledge the criticism they were getting from Indian public?
Many Bollywood celebrities also have endorsed Fair & Lovely at some point in their career. The present brand ambassador is Yami Gautam. There is a strong wave of criticism against this product, especially, how it manipulates the mindset of people. But the irony is, people like her defend as well as promote the brand for their own benefit. However, it’s not only about cosmetics. Some matrimonial sites the selection of life partner is still being done on the basis of color complexion.
This isn’t limited to cosmetics…Matrimonial sites promote the same bias
Shaadi.com has a skin color filter, that allows users to search for a life partner on the basis of color complexion. It enacted with the light of speed as compared to Fair & Lovely which didn’t even recognize the demand of people. According to BBC, Shaadi.com removed this option after US-based Hetal Lakhani started an online petition against it.
These fairness promoting cosmetics are not only limited to women but also men. There are many brands for men which claims itself best for whitening of skin tone. These all are just another version of “Fair & lovely”. For example, Fair & Handsome, Garnier Power White, Meglow “fairness” cream and Nivea men Advanced whitening creams.
It’s deep rooted in our society too!
The inferiority related to skin color among people around the world is the reason why markets of such brands which promotes fairness and whitening of skin have been sky-rocketing since ages. Ofcourse, it is not the fault of a person, if he or she feels inferior about their skin tone. It is our history and our society.
It is a fact that once in our lifetime or one in our family member uses skin lightening creams. Now that’s how much deep the foundation of fairness=superiority is framed as well as penetrated in our society. Recent news of Hardik Pandya engagement with Natasa Stankovic showed us the mirror. It showed how blaming our older generation for racism is just another excuse. Because our so called “Smarter Youths” are also nothing different than a racist.
Though we cannot change our History but we can make one by changing our mindsets. Once we do that we can rise above it, no matter what the issue is whether it is racism, discrimination or even nepotism.
Gagan Bharti 
shikha.sandhir99@gmail.com