VIDEO: Beauty Companies Accused of ‘Colorism’ for Selling Skin-Lightening Creams

Major cosmetic companies are reportedly facing criticism for making billions of dollars off skin lightening products some claim promote “colorism.”

“Corporations like L’Oreal and Johnson and Johnson are now promising to either discontinue or rename their lines of bleaching creams,” according to CBS News.

The report continued:

Ads shown across Africa, Asia and the Middle East help fuel a demand for skin-lightening products like White Perfect, White Glow and White Beauty. The creams contain chemical agents that can reduce melanin content. Some, if used incorrectly, can damage the skin. Major corporations like L’Oreal, Unilever and Johnson & Johnson are all part of the industry which is reportedly worth over $8 billion a year.

In a message to the company following George Floyd’s death, Johnson & Johnson Chairman and CEO Alex Gorsky said, “I must state unequivocally that racism in any form is unacceptable, and that black lives matter.”

On its Twitter page in June, L’Oreal tweeted that it “stands in solidarity with the Black community and against injustice of any kind. … Speaking out is worth it,” according to the Associated Press (AP).

However, the beauty industry was experiencing a “racial reckoning following Black Lives Matter protests,” the CBS article said, adding that the companies were being accused of hypocrisy for saying they stood against racism, while “promoting whiteness.”

The outlet noted:

In a statement, Johnson & Johnson said it will no longer sell two skin-lightening lotions. L’Oreal said it’s removing the words “white,” “fair,” and “light” from its skin products. Nivea’s parent company followed, removing “whitening” and “fair” from products and marketing. Unilever is renaming it’s hugely popular Fair & Lovely cream to Glow & Lovely.

But author Stephanie Yeboah said the products should be banned, not just renamed.

“They don’t need to rename it. I mean, I don’t see what renaming is going to do when the intended effect of the product is still the same. The person is still going to be lighter,” she concluded.

In a statement to CBS News, Johnson & Johnson said recent conversations “highlighted that some product names or claims on our Dark Spot Reducer products represent fairness or white as better than your own unique skin tone.”

“This was never our intention – healthy skin is beautiful skin,” the statement concluded.

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