HUL To Rebrand "Fair & Lovely" Amid #Blacklivesmatter Movement

On Thursday, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) announced that it will be renaming its popular "Fair & Lovely" face cream as the backlash on discrimination based on skin colour spreads beyond the US.

In its announcement, HUL said that "Taking forward the brand's journey towards a more inclusive vision of beauty, the company will stop using the word 'Fair' in the brand name 'Fair & Lovely'."

"The new name is awaiting regulatory approvals and we expect to change the name in the next few months," it added.

Shares of HUL were trading higher after the announcement.

"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," HUL said in its statement.

The change comes after heated debate across the world over racial discrimination took over after the death of George Floyd, an African American citizen who killed after a white police officer in the US knelt on his neck during his arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit bill.

Floyd's death triggered demonstrations and protests in over 2,000 American cities and around the world against police brutality, discrimination based on skin colour and stereotyping.

Earlier this week, healthcare company Johnson & Johnson announced its decision to stop selling 'skin-whitening' products in Asia and the Middle East.

Targetting brands that support this discrimination, an online petition was also started against skin colour bias endorsed by Shaadi.com causing the matrimonial site to remove its colour filter that asks users to indicate the colour of their skin using generic descriptors like 'Fair', 'Wheatish', and 'Dark.'