Johnson & Johnson has announced it will no longer sell skin-whitening creams.
The company’s decision is the latest example of a global brand reevaluating its products and business practices amid a global cultural shift against racial inequality in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
Johnson executives said recent events forced them to reconsider the underlying premise of whitening products.
“Conversations over the past few weeks 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,” Johnson & Johnson said. “This was never our intention — healthy skin is beautiful skin.”
Which products?
The products are the Clean & Clear Fairness line, sold only in India, and the Neutrogena Fine Fairness line, sold only in Asia and the Middle East, according to a report by National Public Radio.
The creams claim to lighten or brighten skin, with advertising pitches that say “Fairer & Brighter Skin,” and “doubles your skin’s whitening power.”
However, there is no medical evidence that skin-bleaching creams are actually effective.
Johnson will no longer produce or ship them but will keep the remaining stock on store shelves until they are sold.
Skin-lightening is a fast-growing industry that is expected to be worth $31.2 billion by 2024, NPR reported, citing facts from the World Health Organization.
Both Johnson products are more popular in Asia and the Middle East than in the United States, but similar creams are sold here by many of the world’s biggest personal care companies, including Unilever, Procter & Gamble and L’Oreal under their respective brands Fair & Lovely, Olay and Garnier.
NPR also noted that whitening products are largely unregulated.
A cultural shift
Meanwhile, other major American companies have taken a stand for racial equality as protests have gripped the nation for nearly a month, vowing to change brand identity symbols and business practices seen as insensitive to people of color.
This last week, Aunt Jemima pancakes brand, Uncle Ben’s rice and Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup all announced they would phase out their longtime brand logos.
More than 400 U.S. companies have also recognized Juneteenth, when America’s last slaves were freed, as a paid day off for employees, and now Congress is also considering legislation to make it a national holiday.
Simultaneously, numerous relics of the Civil War era, such as Confederate statues, have been defaced and toppled by protesters around the country.
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