Unilever is to drop the word “normal” from beauty products like Dove and Vaseline in a bid to be “more inclusive.” The company said it would also stop excessively editing photographs of its model’s.
Sunny Jain, the company’s President of beauty products said; “We know that removing ‘normal’ from our products and packaging will not fix the problem alone, but it is an important step forward.”
The word “normal” is routinely used on shampoos, conditioners and face products, such as for “normal or oily skin”.
Roshida Khanom of market research firm Mintel is delighted. She said: “‘Normal’ is such a loaded term because it indicates that there is an ‘abnormal’ and it doesn’t actually describe anything, so it’s about time that the term is dropped.”
“Young people in particular are shifting the conversation – the traditional notions of beauty no longer hold up for Generation Z, who see beauty as accepting and owning your imperfections,” she said.
Writing in today’s Daily Telegraph beauty director Sonia Haria said;
“I am glad that Unilever has made this decision, because to continue to have such labelling on products is deeply jarring for many millions of women. According to Unilever, one billion people use their products every single day, so a shift in mindset for a company with such a global presence is bound to make progress in positive ways.”
Apparently, we can expect more of this derisory nonsense from corporations in the near future. Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said:
“The world’s consumer base is becoming increasingly aware of social issues, and the threat of boycotts and backlashes means giants like Unilever are right to try and avoid PR headaches.”
Such fallouts can have negative consequences such as hitting sales or damaging the brand, she said.
