Unilever announces next step in the evolution of skin care portfolio, reiterating its commitment to a more inclusive vision of beauty

Unilever Sri Lanka announced today the next step in the evolution of its skin care portfolio, with the rebranding of its flagship brand Fair & Lovely. Taking forward the brand’s journey towards a more inclusive vision of beauty, the company will stop using the word ‘Fair’ in the brand name ‘Fair & Lovely’. The new name is awaiting regulatory approvals and the company expects to change the name in the next few months.

Over the past few years, Fair & Lovely’s advertising has evolved to communicate a message of women’s empowerment. The brand’s vision is to adopt a holistic approach to beauty that cares for people, that must be inclusive and diverse – for everyone, everywhere.  The brand is committed to celebrating all skin tones. 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. Unilever Sri Lanka has also removed the cameo with two faces showing shade transformation, as well as the shade guides from its packaging in its wider portfolio. The Company will continue to evolve its advertising, to feature women of different skin tones, representative of the variety of beauty across Sri Lanka.

Hajar Alafifi-Laadel, Chairperson & Managing Director of Unilever Sri Lanka said, “We are making our skin care portfolio more inclusive, celebrating the true diversity of beauty. The brand’s communication has progressed from fairness to the skin’s natural glow which is a more holistic measure of healthy skin. This change has been very well received by our consumers.  We are now announcing that we will remove the word ‘Fair’ from our brand name Fair & Lovely. The new name is awaiting regulatory approvals, and the pack with the revised name will be available in the market in the next few months.”

Fair & Lovely is based on pioneering technology that has made multiple skin health benefits available to millions of consumers at an affordable price. The brand has been progressively changing its formulation, and includes other vitamins like B6, C & E, allantoin, known to improve skin health and protect the skin from external aggressors, UV rays and environmental pollution. The product is designed to improve skin barrier function, improve skin firmness and smoothen skin texture – all of which help enhance radiance and glow holistically. The brand has never been and is not a bleaching product.

In addition to the changes to Fair & Lovely, the rest of Unilever Sri Lanka’s skincare portfolio will also reflect the new vision of positive beauty.

Additional information about Fair and Lovely Foundation  

Connecting women to opportunity:

Career guidance. High-quality education. They are vital elements to building a career and essential to empowering women. That is especially true where socio-cultural, infrastructural or economic barriers stand in women’s way – barriers such as gender stereotyping, safety concerns about studying outside the home, or harmful norms about household responsibilities.

Impact:

The Foundation was introduced to Sri Lanka in October 2019 and includes a mobile-friendly career and education platform at www.fairandlovelyfoundation.lk. It is a holistic e-learning platform dedicated to upskilling women across the country and is made accessible free of charge, offering career guidance as well as a curated selection of courses. The courses are chosen from well-regarded, high-quality digital education partners such as edX.org (founded by Harvard and MIT), the IT skills training firm, NIIT Limited, and English Edge, an English language training specialist.

Within a short span of time, nearly 6,000 Sri Lankan women have registered to access skills and training through the platform, including over 230 resumes submitted for improvements, over 1,400 career guidance tests conducted and 7,600 course enrolments.

As with the rebrand of Fair & Lovely, Unilever Sri Lanka will also be announcing the new name for the Fair & Lovely Foundation.