The Anglo-Dutch conglomerate, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), clocks about Rs 4,100 crore ($550 million) in annual sales from the flagship brand Fair & Lovely in India alone, analysts told Moneycontrol.
There is no specific data on the size of the fairness cream industry but as per FMCG analysts, it could be between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 crore. Of this, Fair & Lovely may hold as much as 80 percent market share.
HUL has not disclosed any detail on the brand’s revenue or its market share.
The Indian fairness cream market is dominated by HUL, Procter & Gamble and Garnier (L'Oréal).
Fair & Lovely brand was HUL’s most successful lines, which it is also sold in Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the rest of Asia.
HUL on Thursday said it will rename its skin-lightening brand to make it more "inclusive and diverse".
The new name is awaiting regulatory approval and we expect to change in the next few months, the company said in a press statement.
The decision comes at a time when the company and other such product sellers have come under fire for reinforcing racial stereotypes. HUL had faced criticism and recently an online petition was circulated to stop its sales.
Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, HUL, said in a press release: “We are making our skin-care portfolio more inclusive and want to lead the celebration of a more diverse portrayal of beauty. In 2019, we removed the cameo with two faces as well as the shade guides from the packaging of Fair & Lovely and the brand communication progressed from fairness to glow, which is a more holistic and inclusive measure of healthy skin. These changes were very well received by our consumers. We now announce that we will remove the word ‘Fair’ from our brand name Fair & Lovely. The new name is awaiting regulatory approval, and the pack with the revised name will be available in the market in the next few months.”
Recently, Johnson & Johnson, the US healthcare and FMCG giant, decided to discontinue its skin-whitening creams amid the ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests.
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