Saying no to 'normal'

With the promise of a "new era of beauty", consumer goods giant Unilever on Tuesday announced it would scrap the word "normal" from all its beauty and personal care products.

"Removing the word 'normal' from ads & packaging across our beauty brands is one way we will create a more inclusive, equitable & sustainable beauty business #YesToPositiveBeauty," said the owner of brands like TRESemmé, Rexona, Sunsilk, Axe, Dove and Vaseline on its official Twitter page.

The company, supplier of over 1,000 products used by 2.5 billion people every day in over 190 countries, shared the findings of a 10,000-person survey it commissioned across nine countries - Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the UK and the U.S.

"More than half of people (56 percent) think that the beauty and personal care industry can make people feel excluded," it said in a statement, revealing "Seven in 10 people agreed that using the word 'normal' on product packaging and advertising has a negative impact. For younger people – those aged 18-35 – this rises to eight in 10."

The London-based firm also pledged it "will not digitally alter a person's body shape, size, proportion or skin color in its brand advertising," vowing to "increase the number of advertisements portraying people from diverse groups who are under-represented."

According to Sunny Jain, president of Beauty & Personal Care, the move aims at "tackling harmful norms and stereotypes and shaping a broader, far more inclusive definition of beauty."

Not so 'fair' record

But Unilever's record of promoting "positive beauty" is patchy. Last year, it was forced to rename its skin-brightening cream to "Glow & Lovely" from "Fair & Lovely" in India after the decades-old brand became synonymous with shaming and isolating women with dark skin tones.

In 2017, a television commercial for Dove body wash showed a Black woman removing her top to reveal a white woman attracted public fury.
Recently, the company had to pull all its TRESemmé hair care products from South African retail stores for 10 days due to a backlash.

"With one billion people using our beauty and personal care products every day, and even more seeing our advertising, our brands have the power to make a real difference to people's lives," said Sunny Jain, president of Beauty & Personal Care, adding "We know that removing 'normal' from our products and packaging will not fix the problem alone, but it is an important step forward."

(With input from wires)