Bollywood hails HUL's decision to axe 'fair' from 'Fair and Lovely'

Decades of critique for promoting fairness as a symbol of beauty fell on deaf ears; but finally in keeping with the mood of the world Hindustan Unilever (HUL) drops the word Fair from its flagship beauty brand 'Fair and Lovely.' The decision has found support across segments and groups in the country.

While netizens welcomed the move by the company to rebrand the cream, celebrities too took to social media to laud the move.

Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut took to Twitter to express her support for the decision. On her behalf, her team wrote, "It has been a long and sometimes a very lonely battle but results only happen when the whole nation participates in the movement".

Suhana Khan, who herself has faced prejudice based on her skin color, also hailed the move. She shared a post on her Instagram that reiterated the brand's announcement. It read: "Hindustan Unilever announced that it would rebrand its skin -lightening cream eFair and Lovely' and drop the word fair' from the product'.

She further added: "It has also committed that it will remove all suggestions that success is linked to skin tone or color in its communication."

Actress-model Bipasha Basu shared a long post on Instagram while addressing the deeprooted stigma attached with skin color, mentioning how she had to deal with being described as "dusky" all her life while speaking of the issue.

View this post on Instagram

From the time I was growing up I heard this always,”Bonnie is darker than Soni.She is little dusky na?“Even though my mother is a dusky beauty and I look a lot like her.I never knew why that would be a discussion by distant relatives when I was a kid. Soon at 15/ 16 I started modelling and then I won the supermodel contest ... all newspapers read ... dusky girl from Kolkata is the winner.I wondered again why Dusky is my first adjective ??? Then I went to New York and Paris to work as a model and I realised my skin colour was exotic there and I got more work and attention because of it. Another discovery of mine:) Once I came back into India and film offers started... and finally I did my first film and from an absolute Ajnabee to Hindi film industry ...I suddenly was accepted and loved. But the adjective stayed which I started liking and loving by then.DUSKY girl wows the audiences in her debut film. In most of my articles for all the work I did,my duskiness seemed to be the main discussion.. it attributed to my sex appeal apparently.And sexy in Bollywood started getting accepted widely.I never really understood this... To me sexy is the personality not just the colour of your skin...why my skin colour only sets me apart from the conventional actresses at that time.But that’s the way it was.I didn’t really see much of difference but I guess people did.There was a strong mindset of Beauty and how an actress should look and behave.I was DIFFERENT as it was pointed out. Didn’t really stop me from being and doing all that I loved. Well you see I was confident and proud of who I was from childhood.My skin colour didn’t define me ... even though I love it and wouldn’t want it to be any different ever. Many skin care endorsements with loads of money was offered to me in the last 18 years ( some were very tempting)... but I stuck to my principle always. All this needs to stop. This wrong dream that we are selling ... that only fair is lovely and beautiful when the majority of the country is brown skinned. It’s a deep rooted stigma. It’s a mammoth step from the brand... and other brands should follow in the same footsteps soon🙏

A post shared by bipashabasusinghgrover (@bipashabasu) on Jun 25, 2020 at 8:32pm PDT

In a statement, HUL said 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.

Also Read: Please Don't Ask Such Questions: Sushant Singh Rajput's Sister breaks down in front of a reporter. Watch

In early 2019, the brand's communication moved away from the benefits of fairness, whitening and skin lightening, towards the glow, even tone, skin clarity and radiance, which are holistic measures of healthy skin.

HUL also removed from Fair & Lovely's packaging, words such as 'fair/fairness', 'white/whitening', and 'light/lightning' that could indicate a fairness-led transformation. The cameo with two faces showing shade transformation, as well as the shade guides, were removed from the packs. The Company will continue to evolve its advertising, to feature women of different skin tones, representative of the variety of beauty across India.

The new name is awaiting regulatory approvals and HUL expects to change the name in the next few months.

Sources: IANS