L’Oreal has said it will remove words such as “whitening” from its skin care products, in the wake of global protests against racism.
The French cosmetics giant said that it “has decided to remove the words ‘white/whitening’, ‘fair/fairness’, ‘light/lightening’ from all its skin evening products”.
L’Oreal’s decision follows a similar move by Anglo-Dutch firm Unilever on Thursday.
It is among a number of companies which have faced criticism in the wake of the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody in Minneapolis.
Earlier this month, L’Oreal tweeted that that it “stands in solidarity with the Black community and against injustice of any kind. Speaking out is worth it”.
The post drew a negative reaction from people who see the company’s business model and advertising as focused on white consumers.
English model Munroe Bergdorf accused the beauty brand of hypocrisy for having fired her three years ago.
Bergdorf was sacked as L’Oreal UK’s first openly transgender model in 2017 for decrying “the racial violence of white people”.
