As global demonstrations and protests surrounding racial inequality and anti-racism rhetoric persist, there's been a call to action and pressure for corporations to reflect on and reevaluate their own systemic racism.
L'Oréal recently announced they will be making some changes to their skincare in an effort to be more inclusive and create social change.
"The L'Oreal Group has decided to remove the words white/whitening, fair/fairness, light/lightening from all its skin evening products," they said.
Skin bleaching is a common beauty practice that San Jose State University's assistant professor of Asian American studies Joanne L. Rondilla wrote in her book Is Lighter Better?: Skin-Tone Discrimination Among Asian Americans is a way to signal one's social standing.
“Having light skin implied that one was a woman of high class, education, and leisure,” she wrote. “A woman’s light skin meant she did not need to work outdoors to make a living."
Back in 2017, black trans model Munroe Bergdorf was let go from L'Oréal after she wrote a Facebook post condemning racism amid the death of an anti-racist protestor at the Charlottesville, VA white supremacist rally.
Munroe, as well as a slew of supporters, saw L'Oréal as being hypocritical, simply performing ally-ship to save face.
L'Oréal now joins Band Aid in working to make their products inclusive.
