French cosmetics major L'Oreal Group on Friday announced that it will drop the words such as white, fair, and light from all its skincare products. The move came a day after Unilever made a similar announcement in the wake of growing criticism on social media.

Amid rising voices against colourism and racial stereotyping, the cosmetic brands have been under the scanner for their products that promote skin fairness. The backlash intensified in the wake of the 'Black Lives Matter' movement in the West.

"The L'Oreal Group acknowledges the legitimate concerns about the terms used to describe skin even-ing products, and has therefore decided to remove the words white/whitening, fair/fairness, light/lightening from all its skin even-ing products," the company said in a statement.

L'Oreal is a big player in the personal care category and owns global brands like Garnier, L'Oreal Paris, Maybelline New York, and NYX Professional Make Up.

As the announcement was made, many people took to Twitter to express their opinion. Some congratulated the company for removing the words, while many said that instead of removing the names, the products should be discontinued.

Congrats to @L’oreal for removing the words,”white,fair & light” from its skin products,but now they need to do something to remove the words,”anti-aging” from marketing like below #ageism Anti Aging Skin Care, Treatments & Products - L'Oréal Paris https://t.co/ngo2K7PTm2

— all ages against ageism (@sandycamillo) June 26, 2020

ðÂÂÂu00c2u009fÂÂÂu00c2u0091ÂÂÂu00c2u0080 So is it racist to get your teeth whitened now?

L'OREAL SAYS IT WILL REMOVE THE WORDS WHITE/WHITENING, FAIR/FAIRNESS, LIGHT/LIGHTENING FROM ALL ITS SKIN EVENING PRODUCTS

— PiQ (@PriapusIQ) June 26, 2020

There is nothing more rare, nor more beautiful, than a woman being unapologetically herself; comfortable in her perfect imperfection. To me, that is the true essence of beauty. To a great start ðÂÂÂu00c2u009fÂÂÂu00c2u0091ÂÂÂu00c2u008fðÂÂÂu00c2u009fÂÂÂu00c2u008f»âÂÂÂu00c2u009d¤ï¸ÂÂÂu00c2u008f @Loreal @LOrealParisIn @GarnierIndia @Maybelline @NyxCosmetics pic.twitter.com/kYgMblfDtH

— nikita bhati (@nikitaabhati) June 27, 2020

Uniliver to rebrand ‘Fair and Lovely’ by dropping “Fair”.
L’Oreal to drop “white”, “light” from their range of products.
But the real change will happen when we stop adding such words in matrimonial ads and acknowledge beauty irrespective of the skin colour in our daily lives.

— Rajdeep Deb (@idrrajdeep) June 27, 2020

But the product is still designed to do the same thing right? Here's a better idea, just stop making fairness creams. https://t.co/TEepBt059O

— Supriya Kelkar (@supriyakelkar_) June 25, 2020

"Fair and Lovely" will become "Lovely". But it is still a skin cream to become fair (lovely). A superficial change to appease, but business as usual? @Unilever #FairandLovely #FairAndHandsome #Loreal #Emami

— Senthamizh Selven (@Senthamizh_dev) June 27, 2020

On Thursday, Unilever had said it is removing the word 'Fair' from its popular skincare brand 'Fair & Lovely' as ‘the brand is committed to celebrating all skin tones’.