Monday, July 20, 2020

Buzzfeed reported on the pressure Unilever applies to promote its skin whitening product

Buzzfeed:
In response to a list of detailed questions about this article, a Unilever spokesperson said the company met with Cosmopolitan Sri Lanka after Shenoy’s Instagram story to “have a constructive conversation and address any concerns.”

“In this meeting, a member of the team exercised extremely poor judgment by insisting that Cosmopolitan give the product positive editorial coverage,” the spokesperson added. “Unilever prides itself on always operating at the highest ethical standards and apologized for this significant misjudgment.”

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Last month, after Unilever posted a Black Lives Matter message on Instagram, South Asians flooded the comments, calling the company hypocritical for selling Fair and Lovely.

On June 25, the company bowed to pressure — in a limited way. It's keeping the product on the market, but rebranding it as Glow and Lovely.