- Hindustan Unilever has confirmed that it will now be renamed Glow & Lovely for its flagship drug Fair and Lovely.
Hindustan Unilever has confirmed that it will now be renamed Glow & Lovely for its flagship drug Fair and Lovely.
“Glow & Lovely will be on the shelf in the next few months and potential developments will be building on the latest idea. The Men’s Fair & Lovely collection will be named ‘Glow & Handsome’, “the official statement from the company said.
The announcement comes after the firm announced it would drop the word ‘fair’ from the name of the cream. Even after the company agreed to drop the brand, however, people have called for a full ban on the drug rather than simply changing the name.
The latest demonstrations in the US against racial inequality have again sparked the debate as marketers actively take note of ideas that market ‘fairness’ as beauty.
“We understand that the use of the terms ‘normal,’ ‘white,’ and ‘color’ implies a particular beauty standard that we don’t think is right, so we want to fix this. As we improve the way we express the skin benefits of our products that offer radiant and even skin tones, it’s also necessary to change the language we use, “said Sunny Jain, Unilever ‘s president of beauty & personal care.
Fair & Lovely has been in India for more than 45 years and is among the best-selling creams.
The fairness creams market in India is estimated to be worth almost 5,000 crore — because most industry studies only take “fairness creams & bleach” as a segment into account, it is not immediately obvious what the overall market size will be if one considers other fairness products such as face washes and face masks.
Fair & Lovely was the undisputed market leader, with a nearly 70 percent share and a dedicated customer base, and HUL made a wise decision by rebranding rather than pulling the plug on the face cream. It’s uncertain if the actual product and its active ingredients will change.
However, the “clear fairness” range that came under fire for Johnson & Johnson is a minor category — and it may have been easier and more expedient to jettison it.
Since its launch in 1975, the brand has been marketed to lighten skin tone and is by far the leader in the entire face cream segment. “We are making our collection of skincare more inclusive and want to lead the celebration of a more diverse image of beauty.”
