The beauty and personal-care company Unilever said on Tuesday that it would no longer use the word "normal" on its products or in its advertising, after a study revealed that it makes most people feel excluded.
Unilever, a company based in London that owns Dove, Axe, Sunsilk and Vaseline, among other personal-care brands, also said it would not digitally alter the body shape, size or skin color of models in its advertising as part of its Positive Beauty initiative, according to a news release. And the company promised to increase the number of ads featuring underrepresented people, without specifying which groups.
The advertising changes came after the company commissioned a 10,000-person study across nine countries, including Brazil, China, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
The study found that 56 percent of participants thought that the beauty industry could make people feel excluded, and that as many as seven in 10 people agreed that the word "normal" on products and in advertising had negative effects. Eight in 10 people agreed among participants age 18 to 35.
A spokeswoman for Unilever said on Tuesday that the company had over 200 products that included the word "normal" on the label.
