French cosmetics company L'Oreal has announced it will be removing the words "white" and "whitening" from all its skin evening products.
"The L'Oreal Group has decided to remove the words white/whitening, fair/fairness, light/lightening from all its skin evening products", the statement read on Saturday.
Skin-whitening products are especially popular in Asian, African and Caribbean countries, where untypical lighter skin is seen as more desirable. However, beauty companies have faced backlash for these very products, since putting the words "whitening" and "fair" on cosmetics has been considered as playing into racial stereotypes and promoting a certain ideal of beauty.
Multiple companies around the world are now reviewing their products to adapt or remove completely anything that could be perceived as "racist", following weeks of anti-racism protests in the United States and Europe sparked by the death of black man George Floyd in Minneapolis, US.
