Unilever has announced that all its beauty and personal care brands around the world will have the word ‘normal’ removed from advertising and packaging. It will also stop digital alterations of body shapes and skin colour of models used in its marketing material.
The move by one of the world’s biggest advertisers is part of a drive towards a more inclusive beauty industry and follows recent moves to rename some products that negatively stereotyped darker skin tones. Unilever pointed to new research that shows 74% of people want the beauty and personal care industry to reflect a broader definition of beauty.
Unilever is now rolling out the new global strategy called ‘Positive Beauty’ across hundreds of beauty and personal care brands within its portfolio, including Dove, Axe, and Sunsilk. It aims to champion “a new era of beauty that’s inclusive, equitable and sustainable”.
The group revealed that it counted more than 200 products globally that include the word ‘normal’ on the product label, as well as several hundred items of brand communications featuring the word.
As well as pledging to drop the use of the word and stop digitally altering images, Unilever is promising to increase the number of ads portraying people from diverse, under-represented groups. It will also accelerate the development of products for such consumer groups and push forward with initiatives that protect the environment.
“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. As part of this, we are committed to tackling harmful norms and stereotypes and shaping a broader, far more inclusive definition of beauty,” said Sunny Jain, President of Unilever Beauty & Personal Care.
“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.”
He added: “With more consumers than ever rewarding brands which take action on the social and environmental issues they care about, we believe that Positive Beauty will make us a stronger, and more successful business.”
