TOKYO -- Asia's $7.5 billion skin whitening market is under growing scrutiny after three of the biggest global companies in the cosmetics and toiletries industry vowed to change their marketing of popular products, responding to a worldwide increase in anti-racist sentiment.
L'Oreal became the latest group to respond to consumer pressure, announcing over the weekend that its skin evening products would no longer be marketed with the words "fair," "whitening" and "lightening." It followed Unilever, which announced similar intentions last week, and Johnson & Johnson, which is pulling two whitening lines from shelves in Asia and the Middle East.
