Unilever plans to stop using the word “normal” on the packaging of its beauty products to make the brand more inclusive.
The London-based brand owner, including Dove, Ax and Vaseline, announced the decision on Tuesday after conducting a survey showing that the description of hair or skin feels like “normal” consumers.
Unilever also said it would stop digitally changing the skin color, body shape and size of models appearing in its ads, while increasing the number of ads featuring people from “under-represented” groups.
“We are committed to tackling harmful norms and stereotypes and forming a broader, much more inclusive definition of beauty,” Sunny Jain, Unilever’s president of beauty and personal care, said in a statement. “We know that removing ‘normal’ from our products and packaging will not solve the problem alone, but it is an important step forward. ‘
Unilever said it conducted a survey of 10,000 people in nine countries in which seven out of ten respondents said that the word “normal” had a “negative impact” on product packaging and advertising, up to eight out of eight. ten rose among 18 to -35-year-olds.
Unilever made the change after enduring several controversies over how brand ads display people of color.
Violent protests erupted in South Africa in September last year after an advertisement for the TRESemmé hair care brand labeled images of black women’s hair as ‘frizzy and dull’, while white women’s hair was described as ‘fine and flat’ and ‘normal’. described.
This comes after Unilever’s Indian company said it would change the name of its skin lightening cream from “Fair & Lovely” to “Glow & Lovely” amid concerns that the old brand is perpetuating stereotypes against darker skin tones.
Dove also caught fire in 2017 over an advertisement showing a black woman pulling a T-shirt over her head to reveal a white woman underneath.
Unilever is one of the largest advertisers in the world, and its beauty products play a key role in its business. The beauty and personal care segment accounted for approximately $ 25 billion of the approximately $ 60 billion in Unilever revenue last year.
Unilever shares rose 1.1 percent in pre-trading on Tuesday to $ 54.55 from 8:20 p.m.
With Post Wires