Unilever, owner of Dove, is taking steps towards positive beauty and sustainability. Image supplied.
Unilever, the company that owns some of the worlds biggest beauty care brands under its umbrella, such as, Dove, Rexona, Lynx, TRESemme and Sunsilk has just announced that it will remove the word ‘normal’ from all of its packaging and advertising material. In addition to removing the word ‘normal’, Unilever has also announced that it will not digitally alter a person’s body shape, size, proportion or skin colour in its brand advertising, and will increase the number of advertisements portraying people from diverse groups who are under-represented. Dove has consistently advertised without digitally altering bodies since 2018.
The decision to remove ‘normal’ is one of many steps that they are taking to challenge narrow beauty ideals, working towards helping to end discrimination and advocating for a more inclusive vision of beauty.
“We recognise that images portraying a certain kind of beauty affect all of us – men, women, children, and people of all ages and ethnicities,” says Markus Rehde, General Manager Beauty Personal Care and Homecare at Unilever ANZ. “New Zealand is one of the most diverse countries in the world, and it is important that the language we use on our popular products, such as shampoos, moisturisers, and deodorants, reflects our customer base as well as our values as an inclusive brand.”
Sunny Jain, President Beauty & Personal Care, adds “With one billion people using our beauty and personal care products every day, and even more seeing our advertising, our brands have the power to make a real difference to people’s lives. As part of this, we are committed to tackling harmful norms and stereotypes and shaping a broader, far more inclusive definition of beauty. We know that removing ‘normal’ from our products and packaging will not fix the problem alone, but it is an important step forward. It’s just one of a number of actions we are taking as part of our Positive Beauty vision, which aims not only to do less harm, but more good for both people and the planet.”
This Positive Beauty initiative will also work towards not only becoming more “people positive,” but “planet positive” too. This includes developing tailored products to serve the diverse needs of people around the world, delivering real and meaningful consumer benefits, backed by cutting-edge science. As well as advancing the use of more natural, biodegradable, and regenerative ingredients – alongside continued packaging innovations that use less, better or no plastic.