Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), in a revolutionary and progressive decision, announced that they will be removing the term 'fair' from their flagship brand 'Fair & Lovely'. A step towards celebrating the 'diversity of beauty', the multifunctional company issued a statement saying words like fairness, whitening and lightening will be erased from their products and are considering changing the name of Fair & Lovely too. "We’re committed to a skincare portfolio that's inclusive of all skin tones, celebrating the diversity of beauty. That’s why we’re removing the words ‘fairness’, ‘whitening’ & ‘lightening’ from products, and changing the Fair & Lovely brand name," the statement read.

Soon after the decision was announced, Shah Rukh Khan's and Gauri Khan's daughter Suhana Khan extended her support to the decision. Suhana's superstar father is the brand ambassador of Fair & Lovely's counterpart Fair & Handsome. During an interview in the past, Shah Rukh said that though Suhana is dusky, she is the most beautiful girl in the world. "I’ll be honest; my daughter is sanwli (dusky), but she’s the most beautiful girl in the world. And nobody can tell me otherwise," he told.

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Apart from Suhana, celebrities like Kangana Ranaut, Abhay Deol and Bipasha Basu have extended their support to this decision of HUL.

It has been a long and sometimes a very lonely battle but results only happen when whole nation participates in the movement https://t.co/9xv1nkQm5P

— Team Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) June 25, 2020

 

 

 

 

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From the time I was growing up I heard this always,”Bonnie is darker than Soni.She is little dusky na?“Even though my mother is a dusky beauty and I look a lot like her.I never knew why that would be a discussion by distant relatives when I was a kid. Soon at 15/ 16 I started modelling and then I won the supermodel contest ... all newspapers read ... dusky girl from Kolkata is the winner.I wondered again why Dusky is my first adjective ??? Then I went to New York and Paris to work as a model and I realised my skin colour was exotic there and I got more work and attention because of it. Another discovery of mine:) Once I came back into India and film offers started... and finally I did my first film and from an absolute Ajnabee to Hindi film industry ...I suddenly was accepted and loved. But the adjective stayed which I started liking and loving by then.DUSKY girl wows the audiences in her debut film. In most of my articles for all the work I did,my duskiness seemed to be the main discussion.. it attributed to my sex appeal apparently.And sexy in Bollywood started getting accepted widely.I never really understood this... To me sexy is the personality not just the colour of your skin...why my skin colour only sets me apart from the conventional actresses at that time.But that’s the way it was.I didn’t really see much of difference but I guess people did.There was a strong mindset of Beauty and how an actress should look and behave.I was DIFFERENT as it was pointed out. Didn’t really stop me from being and doing all that I loved. Well you see I was confident and proud of who I was from childhood.My skin colour didn’t define me ... even though I love it and wouldn’t want it to be any different ever. Many skin care endorsements with loads of money was offered to me in the last 18 years ( some were very tempting)... but I stuck to my principle always. All this needs to stop. This wrong dream that we are selling ... that only fair is lovely and beautiful when the majority of the country is brown skinned. It’s a deep rooted stigma. It’s a mammoth step from the brand... and other brands should follow in the same footsteps soon

A post shared by bipashabasusinghgrover (@bipashabasu) on Jun 25, 2020 at 8:32pm PDT

 

 

 

 

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It took a world backlash and the #blacklivesmatter movement to give us a push in this direction. But make no mistake, all of you who have been vocal about the need for a cultural shift in regard to the sale and endorsement of fairness creams in our country contributed to this victory. We have a long way to go in breaking our conditioning of what constitutes for beauty, but this is a small step in the right direction. It’s the starting point to a long road ahead. What a beautiful beginning! #nomorefairandlovely #peoplepower

A post shared by Abhay Deol (@abhaydeol) on Jun 25, 2020 at 9:08pm PDT

Back in 2019, the brand's communication moved away from the benefits of fairness, whitening and skin lightening, towards glow, even tone, skin clarity and radiance, which are holistic measures of healthy skin. As of now, the new brand name is awaited and HUL plans to change it in the next few months.

(Source: Instagram/Hindustan Times)