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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Business
Emma Munbodh

Dove soap maker Unilever to remove the word "normal" from all skincare products

One of the world's biggest manufacturers of health and skincare products has said it will remove the word "normal" from 200 items in a bit to promote inclusivity.

Unilever, which owns Dove, Simple, Sure and dozens more household brands said it will also ban excessive editing of "body shape, size, proportion and skin colour" in advertisements from next year.

The firm's boss said it wants to create a "more inclusive definition of beauty".

It comes after the retail supplier was accused of promoting stereotypes around dark skin tones.

Last year, Unilever rebranded a skin-lightening cream sold across Asia from "Fair and Lovely" to "Glow and Lovely".

It still continues to be sold despite petitions calling on the firm to halt production.

Unilever products include food, confections, energy drinks, baby food, soft drinks, cheese, cleaning products and personal care (Birmingham Mail)

"The product has never been and is not a skin bleaching cream," Unilever says on its website.

The firm also apologised after it ran a Facebook advertising campaign in 2017 for Dove body lotion, which showed a series of three images, showing a black woman peeling off her T-shirt to reveal a white woman underneath her skin.

The third image showed the white woman undressing to reveal an Asian woman.

Unilever said the changes will be made over over the next year.

Dove - Real Beauty (PA)

Unilever's president of beauty and personal care products, Sunny Jain, said: "We know that removing 'normal' from our products and packaging will not fix the problem alone, but it is an important step forward."

The word "normal" is typically used on shampoos, conditioners and face products, such as for "normal or oily skin".

But Roshida Khanom of market research firm Mintel said: "'Normal' is such a loaded term because it indicates that there is an 'abnormal' and it doesn't actually describe anything, so it's about time that the term is dropped."

"Young people in particular are shifting the conversation - the traditional notions of beauty no longer hold up for Generation Z, who see beauty as accepting and owning your imperfections," she said.

The has company also committed to increasing the number of adverts portraying people from under-represented groups going forward.

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