Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL), India’s second-largest soap maker, will remove the word “fair” from its range of soaps, following other global companies that have taken similar steps in return of many consumers complaining over racial stereotyping and calls for multi-cultural products.
GCPL markets the FairGlow brand of soap under its hygiene category which includes soaps, hand washes and wipes, and it contributes about 26% of GCPL’s global business.
After the company’s first-quarter earnings, Nisaba Godrej, executive chairman and managing director said, “We didn’t invest behind FairGlow or we moved away from that brand with the very reason that other companies are doing that now.” She added,“It’s a minuscule brand for us and we’re actually sort of changing the name. I think it’s the right thing for the consumer, for us. All consumer product companies are now really doing this.”
In June, India’s largest Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) company Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) decided to drop the word “fair” from its over four-decade-old skincare brand ‘Fair & Lovely’, which is also the country’s largest selling face care brand and re-branded it as ‘Glow and Lovely’ in the month of July. The men’s range of Fair & Lovely will be sold as Glow and Handsome.
A larger number of consumers are now reaching a self-actualization segment where they prefer to do things that are not only correct, but politically correct as well, said the sector analysts. Therefore, words like ‘fair’ or ‘dark’ signifying skin colour are meant to be out. Thus, companies across the board are rethinking the use of anything which has a colour connotation especially after the systemic racism ignited protests.
Harish Bijoor, a brand expert and head of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.said, “It is a sudden clean-up of brands which have not been too sensitive to the issue. Brands now want to distance their imagery so there is no confusion in the market. So, while it is the purge of the word ‘fair’, it is also to distance imagery of different brands within the same market.”
Progressively, French cosmetics brand L’Oreal said it would delete the words ‘white’, ‘fair’ and ‘light’ from all of its skincare products. Johnson & Johnson (J&J) also revealed that they would withdraw its Neutrogena Fine Fairness and Clean & Clear fairness product line in India.
GCPL’s FairGlow soap was introduced in December 1999, when the decision to promote the fairness proposition as a soap made strategic sense in India, given soaps penetrated 95% of households, while creams reached only 25-30%, as soaps cost less than creams, raising the convenience factor of using a fairness product at a lower cost.