Unilever drops 'normal' from beauty product packaging

Unilever, the British multinational consumer goods company, announced that it is to drop the word 'normal' from the packaging of its beauty products and advertising in an attempt to be more inclusive.

The company also said that it has banned the excessive digital editing of models' body, shape, size, proportion or skin colour in its beauty advertising and instead will include people from diverse communities.

The firm's president of beauty and personal care products, Sunny Jain, said, "We know that removing 'normal' from our products and packaging will not fix the problem alone, but it is an important step forward. It's just one of a number of actions we are taking as part of our Positive Beauty vision, which aims not only to do less harm but more good for both people and the planet."

Unilever, on the launch of its 'Positive Beauty' vision on Tuesday, March 9, said it would also take several other steps in an attempt to promote "a new era of beauty that's inclusive, equitable and sustainable".

In a survey conducted by the company, about 10,000 people from nine countries, including Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, UK, and the United States, revealed that more than half of people(56 per cent) think that the beauty and personal care industry can make people feel excluded.

Nearly 74 per cent of people said they wanted the beauty and personal care industry to focus on making them feel better than 'look better'.

About seven in ten older people and eight in ten younger people (aged 18-35) agreed that using the word 'normal' on product packaging and advertising has a negative impact because it pressurizes them to look in a certain way by narrowing down the beauty ideals.

"With one billion people using our beauty and personal care products every day…our brands have the power to make a real difference in people's lives. As part of this, we are committed to tackling harmful norms and stereotypes and shaping a broader, far more inclusive definition of beauty," added Jain.

The positive beauty campaign is centred around three commitments, including taking action to improve health and wellbeing, advancing equity and inclusion, and making genuine efforts to help protect and regenerate 1.5 million hectares of land, forests and oceans by 2030. It also supports a global ban on animal testing for cosmetics by 2023.

The company, which own brands like Dove, Lifebuoy, Axe, Sunsilk, Simple and Toni & Guy, had previously received backlash for its alleged promotion of negative stereotypes around dark skin tones. With this latest campaign, the company hopes to change its actions and retrieve its brand-image by enabling a substantial shift in the way people define 'beauty'.