HUL To Drop 'Fair' From 'Fair & Lovely', Will This End India's Deep-Rooted Fascination For Fair Skin Tone?

If you aren't really aware of India's fascination for light/fair skin tone then let me tell you that even on this day, you will find people who can make fun of your skin tone. Don't blame them, the deep-rooted bias which has existed for the longest time in the country is to be blamed here. For years, skincare brands, matrimonial sites have been making us women insecure about our skin colour and that too from a very tender age. We are here in 2020 and still, nothing has changed really. This dark-fair distinction needs to end but how?

Hindustan Unilever's Momentous Decision

The Black Lives Matter movement was a wake-up call for all of us. All this while, none of us paid attention to the race-based crimes happening around the world. Amidst this, many brands have become sensitive and are taking significant steps to mark a change.

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HUL has taken one such step to an inclusive vision of beauty. It has decided to drop words like fair, fairness, white, light, lightening, and whitening from its skincare products.

Sunny Jain, President Beauty & Personal Care, said, “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 recognise 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. As we’re evolving the way that we communicate the skin benefits of our products that deliver radiant and even tone skin, it’s also important to change the language we use.”

He added, “We have been working on the evolution of our Fair & Lovely brand, which is sold across Asia, progressively moving to a more inclusive vision of beauty that celebrates skin glow. We have changed the advertising, communication and – more recently – the packaging in South Asia, and we think it’s important that we now share the next step that we have been working on: changing the brand name. We will also continue to evolve our advertising, to feature women of different skin tones, representative of the variety of beauty across India and other countries. We want Fair & Lovely to become a brand that celebrates glowing and radiant skin, regardless of skin tone.”

Glow And Lovely

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has decided to drop the word 'Fair' from its fairness cream 'Fair & Lovely'. HUL has approached for the trademark registration and according to a report by IndiaTV, it may soon get the name 'Glow And Lovely'. The final name would be shared after the brand is done with all the legal and regulatory requirements.

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Will This Step Solve The Problem?

HUL's decision to re-brand its product 'Fair & Lovely' is getting mixed reviews from the netizens. As soon as the news broke on social media, netizens have been sharing their views. While some feel it is a big step towards an equal world, others feel that HUL removing 'fair' from the name of their product won't be enough.

The brand is trying to bring in a positive change by re-branding its product and committing to celebrate the diversity of beauty but will that fix everything?

If we look at the other side of it, the rebranding of 'Fair & Lovely' won't really make a difference. It is still a fairness cream at the end of the day. Re-branding won't change the product, the purpose of the cream would still be the same and it would end up making women with darker skin tone feel inferior.

Do you think rebranding or removing words like fairness can erase the deep-rooted bias that has been there for ages now? Share your thoughts with us!

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