Unilever plans to stop using the word ‘normal’ on the packaging of its beauty products in an effort to make its brand more inclusive.
The London-based owner of brands like Dove, Ax and Vaseline announced the decision Tuesday after conducting an investigation showing that describing hair or skin as ‘normal’ leaves consumers feeling left out.
Unilever also said it will stop digitally changing the skin color, body shape and size of models that appear in its ads, while the number of ads featuring people from “underrepresented” groups will increase.
“We are committed to tackling harmful norms and stereotypes and shaping a broader, much more inclusive definition of beauty,” Sunny Jain, Unilever’s president of beauty and personal care, said in a statement. “We know that removing ‘normal’ from our products and packaging will not only solve the problem, but it is an important step forward.”
Unilever said it conducted a survey of 10,000 people in nine countries, in which seven out of ten respondents said the use of the word ‘normal’ on product packaging and in advertising ‘has a negative impact’, up to eight in the ten among 18 to 35 year olds.
Unilever made the change after enduring several controversies over how its brands’ ads portrayed people of color.
Violent protests erupted in South Africa last September after an ad for the haircare brand TRESemmé called images of black women’s hair “frizzy and dull” while white women’s hair was described as “fine and flat” and “normal.”
That came after Unilever’s Indian company said it would change the name of its skin-brightening cream from “Fair & Lovely” to “Glow & Lovely” amid concerns that the old brand was perpetuating stereotypes against dark skin tones.
Dove also drew fire in 2017 over an ad that appeared to show a black woman pulling a T-shirt over her head to reveal a white woman underneath.
Unilever is one of the world’s largest advertisers and its beauty products are at the heart of its business. The beauty and personal care segment accounted for approximately $ 25 billion of Unilever’s approximately $ 60 billion in sales last year.
Unilever shares rose about 1.1 percent in premarket trading Tuesday to $ 54.55 as of 8:20 a.m.
With Post Wires