Unilever to drop "normal" from beauty products following backlash

London-based consumer goods company Unilever has announced that it will be dropping the word "normal" from its many beauty and personal care products in a push for inclusivity, as well as ending the practice of digitally altering body shapes and skin colour of models used in advertising campaigns.

The company is one of the top advertisers in the world and the announcement comes as it has been trying to move past the backlash it received for some of its advertising campaigns.

Last year, Unilever was pushed to rebrand its top-selling skin-lightening product in India from "Fair & Lovely" to "Glow & Lovely" following consumer anger over the negative stereotyping of darker skin tones.

In 2017, there was a social media furore over an advert for Dove body wash which showed a black woman removing her top to reveal a white woman.

Last year, the company was forced to pull its TRESemmé haircare products from stores in South Africa for nearly two weeks due to a backlash over an ad campaign by drug store Clicks, which featured the products.

The ad described natural Black African hair as "frizzy & dull" and "dry & damaged", while presenting images alongside two white women whose hair was described as "fine & flat" and "normal".

“We know that removing ‘normal’ alone will not fix the problem, but we believe it is an important step towards a more inclusive definition of beauty,” Sunny Jain, president of Unilever’s beauty and personal care division told Reuters.

More than one hundred Unilever brands across the world will have the word "normal" removed in connection with skin type or hair texture. It will be replaced with terms such as "moisture replenish" for skin creams or "grey hair" for shampoos.

A Unilever poll of 10,000 people worldwide found that over half the respondents felt that the word "normal" in the context of skin or hair made people feel excluded, while 70% said that when used in advertising, the word had negative connotations.

The company also said that it would no longer digitally alter body size, shape, proportion and skin tones of the models used in its advertising, or its paid influencers across all its brands - a move that began with its Dove brand in 2018.

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