Unilever to remove the word ‘normal’ from 200 beauty products in inclusive move

Company that owns Dove has also vowed to ban excessive editing of models’ photos

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Unilever has announced it will remove the word “normal” from 200 of its beauty products in a drive towards inclusivity.

The move comes as the conglomerate that owns Dove has also vowed to ban excessive photoshopping from its advertising.

This rule will apply to official advertising featuring models and images shared by social media influencers promoting Unilever products as well.

The switches will start to come into place in the next year and will apply to a variety of Unilever brands, which also include Simple and Sure.

The word “normal” is typically used on skin products, which are sometimes advertised for “normal skin” or hair products, which are marketed towards those with “normal” hair.

Instead of using this term, Unilever has pledged to use different descriptors that help guide consumers to finding the products best suited to them.

Commenting on the changes, Unilever’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.”

He added that consumers were increasingly “rewarding brands” that tackle environmental and social issues.

Moving forward, Mr Jain added that Unilever would be “taking a stand on the issues we know consumers care about and communicating that to consumers”. 

It comes after Unilever rebranded a skin-lightening cream that is sold in Asia, changing the advertising from reading “Fair and Lovely” to “Glow and Lovely”.