The L'Oréal group has decided to remove certain words, such as "whitening", from the description of its cosmetic products on its packaging, in a global context of anti-racist events. "The L'Oréal group has decided to remove the words white / whitening, clear (fair / fairness, light / lightening) from all its products intended to standardize the skin," said the French cosmetics giant in a press release published in English on Saturday, without further details, in particular on an immediate withdrawal or not from the shelves.
The group removes the words "white", "whitening" and "clear" from all of its products
This decision comes after that of the Indian subsidiary of Unilever, which chose to rename its skin lightening cream marketed under the name of "Fair & Lovely". The Anglo-Dutch company has promised to no longer use the word "Fair" because the brand says it is "committed to celebrating all skin tones".
The scale of anti-racist protests, sparked by the death of George Floyd, an African-American asphyxiated by a white police officer in Minneapolis, puts pressure on businesses. On Friday, Coca-Cola announced that it would suspend all promotion on all social networks for at least 30 days. "There is no place for racism in the world and there is no place for racism on social networks", justified James Quincey, CEO of the world giant Coca-Cola, in a very brief communicated.
Also, several American groups have announced their intention to change their visual identity, such as Mars, which says it is thinking about developing its famous Uncle Ben's.