Unilever to rebrand its ‘Fair & Lovely’ skin-lightening products

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) announced today that it is re-branding its brand of skin-lightening products 'Fair & Lovely' to plain 'Lovely', as move to a more inclusive vision of beauty. The new name is awaiting regulatory approvals and HUL expect to change the name in the next few months. Since 2016, there has been a sustained campaign against 'colourism, with the hash tag #unfairandlovely, challenging the widely-held belief in many parts of the world that fair skin is the most attractive. In February 2020, India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare finalised an amendment which bans advertisements promoting fairness creams, with stiff penalties for those breaching the new regulations.

However, the “fairness” cream industry in India was estimated to achieve market revenues of more than Rs. 5,000 crore (US$50 billion) by 2023, according to a Markets and Research report. Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, HUL said, “We are making our skin care portfolio more inclusive and want to lead the celebration of a more diverse portrayal of beauty. In 2019, we removed the cameo with two faces 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.”

"Over the last decade, Fair & Lovely’s advertising has evolved to communicate a message of women’s empowerment. 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. In early 2019, 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. HUL also removed from Fair & Lovely’s packaging, words such as ‘fair/fairness’, ‘white/whitening’, and ‘light/lightening’ that could indicate a fairness-led transformation. The cameo with two faces showing shade transformation, as well as the shade guides were removed from the packs. The Company will continue to evolve its advertising, to feature women of different skin tones, representative of the variety of beauty across India."

HUL stated that Fair & Lovely is based on pioneering technology that has made multiple skin health benefits available to millions of consumers at an affordable price. The brand has been progressively changing its formulation, and includes other vitamins like B6, C & E, allantoin, known to improve skin health and protect the skin from external aggressors, UV rays and environmental pollution. The product is designed to improve skin barrier function, improve skin firmness and smoothen skin texture - all of which help enhance radiance and glow holistically. The brand has never been and is not a bleaching product.

About the Fair and Lovely Foundation

As with the rebrand of Fair & Lovely, HUL will be also announcing the new name for the Fair & Lovely Foundation, which was founded in 2003 to offer women scholarships to pursue their education. In 2017, it launched a mobile-friendly career and education platform as a holistic solution. This mobile platform offers career guidance as well as a curated selection of courses. The courses are chosen from well-regarded, high-quality digital education partners such as edX.org (founded by Harvard and MIT), the IT skills training firm, NIIT Limited, and English Edge, an English language training specialist.

By the end of 2019, over one million people had registered to access skills and training through the platform, with 350,000 career tests already completed.

About Hindustan Unilever Limited

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast-Moving Consumer Goods company with its products touching the lives of nine out of ten households in the country. HUL works to create a better future every day.