Fair & Lovely (cosmetics)

Tube of Fair & Lovely showing the branding and image.

Fair & Lovely is a skin-lightening cosmetic product of Hindustan Unilever introduced to the market in India in 1975. Fair & Lovely is available in India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and other parts of Asia and is also exported to other parts of the world such as the West, where they are sold in Asian supermarkets.

Unilever patented the brand Fair & Lovely in 1971 after the patenting of niacinamide, a melanin suppressor,^[1] which is the cream's main active ingredient. As of 2012 the brand occupied 80% of the fairness cream market in India, and is one of Hindustan Unilever's most successful cosmetics lines.^[2]

The target consumer profile for Fair & Lovely is the 18 and above age group, and the bulk of the users are in the age 21-35 category,^[3] though there is evidence that girls as young as 12-14 also use the cream.^[4] Hindustan Unilever Limited research claims that “90 percent of Indian women want to use whiteners because it is aspirational, like losing weight. A fair skin is like education, regarded as a social and economic step up."^[5]

References

1. Miranda A. Farage, Kenneth W. Miller, Howard I. Maibach Textbook of Aging Skin 540896554 - 2009 p.498 "In a recent work, niacinamide and glucosamine (in particular, its derivative N-acetyl glucosamine [NAG]) have been determined to be effective in reducing melanin production in culture. In vitro, glucosamine reduces production of melanin.."
2. Alma M. Garcia Contested Images: Women of Color in Popular Culture 2012 0759119635 p.182 "Through its Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Lever Limited, Unilever patented Fair & Lovely in 1971 following the patenting of niacinamide, a melanin suppressor, which is its main active ingredient. Test marketed in South India in 1975, available throughout India in 1978. Fair & Lovely has become the largest-selling skin cream in India, accounting for 80 percent of the fairness cream market."
3. Jham, Vimi Cases on Consumer-Centric Marketing Management 2013 1466643587 p.102 "The target consumer profile for Fair & Lovely is in the age group of 18 and above. The bulk of the users are in the age group of 21-35 and the brand communication has always been targeted at this age group. "
4. Mike Peng Global Strategy 0324590997 2008 p.414 "The target market for Fair & Lovely is predominantly young women aged 18–35 (Srisha, 2001). Disturbingly, “there is repeated evidence that schoolgirls in the 12–14 years category widely use fairness creams” (Ninan, 2003). "
5. Aneel Karnani Fighting Poverty Together: Rethinking Strategies 0230120237 2011 p.101 "Hindustan Unilever Limited, Unilever's Indian subsidiary, claims Fair & Lovely is doing good by fulfilling a social need. HUL research says that “90 percent of Indian women want to use whiteners because it is aspirational, like losing weight. A fair skin is like education, regarded as a social and economic step up."