Unilever is dropping the word “normal” from all of their beauty and personal care products, reports Reuters.
Its Dove brand tweeted a video for the “Say no to normal” campaign.
“It’s normal to be told what beautiful looks like,” the voice-over says. “But is it? Normal? Is it normal to be told what beautiful looks like? For girls to have low self-esteem? For hair discrimination to exist? To test on animals? And for plastic to pollute our oceans? We won’t accept this. Say no to normal. Say #YesToPositiveBeauty #Unilever #Dove.”
Is it normal: to be told what beautiful looks like? For girls to have low self-esteem? For hair discrimination to exist? To test on animals? and for plastic to pollute our oceans? We won’t accept this 🙅♀ Say no to normal. Say #YesToPositiveBeauty #Unilever #Dove pic.twitter.com/x9X6RdyiJ6
— Dove (@Dove) March 9, 2021
The news comes after accusations of Unilever stereotyping darker skin tones.
Last year, public backlash forced the company to rename its top-selling skin-lightening brand in India to “Glow & Lovely” from “Fair & Lovely”.
And in 2017, they took heat over an ad for Dove body wash that showed a black woman removing her top to reveal a white woman underneath.
Unilever tweeted: “We’re removing the word ‘normal’ from ads, products and packaging across our entire range of beauty and personal care brands, all over the world.”
The company said it will also stop digitally altering the body shapes and skin colour of their models.
More than 100 Unilever brands will replace “normal” with terms such as “grey hair” for shampoos or “moisture replenish” for skin creams by 2022.
In September last year Clicks in South Africa was boycotted for its racist and offensive advertisement which depicted black women’s hair as frizzy, dull and damaged.
The advert was produced by TRESemmé and was published on the Clicks website.
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