Hindustan Unilever has announced that its flagship skincare brand Fair and Lovely will be rebranded as Glow and Lovely. Last week, the company had said that it will rebrand its skin-lightening cream to make it more "inclusive and diverse".

The rebranding has come at a time when retail players have been under pressure for reinforcing racial stereotypes.

First introduced in India decades ago, Fair & Lovely became a bestselling product -- racking up sales of about Rs 4,000 crore last year -- as it tapped into the perspective that equated fairness with beauty.

That positioning was criticised by many for promoting colourism in a country where a large part of the population is brown-skinned.

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Fair & Lovely will sell just as well after name change

Fair & Lovely's journey has not been without controversy. It once reportedly claimed that "90 percent of Indian women want to use whiteners because it is aspirational, like losing weight. A fair skin is, like education, regarded as a social and economic step up."

The brand, going forward, will be more focused on representation of women with different skin tones, the company said. It added that the rest of the skin care portfolio will also reflect the new vision 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," said Sunny Jain, President Beauty & Personal Care, HUL.

First Published:Jul 2, 2020 6:11 PM IST