Johnson & Johnson pulls skin whitening creams off shelves in Asia, Middle East

Johnson & Johnson announced that it has decided to stop selling skin-whitening creams popular in Asia and the Middle East. Skin lightening products are under scrutiny due to the global debate on racism and the momentum that the Black Lives Matter movement has gained.

A spokesperson to Reuters, announced that Clean & Clear Fairness line will no longer be sold in India. Earlier this month, J&J also announced that it would discontinue Neutrogena’s Fine Fairness range of products – available in Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

"Conversations over the past few weeks highlighted that some product names or claims on our dark spot reducer products represent fairness or white as better than your own unique skin tone," Johnson & Johnson said, as reported by LiveMint. "This was never our intention – healthy skin is beautiful skin."

This isn't the first time skin lightening creams have come under public scrutiny. Even before the Black Lives Matter gained momentum world over, there has been a petition on change.org against Unilever's skin lightening cream 'Fair & Lovely'. The petition has over 12,000 signatures against the brand which promises to make a person's skin tone '4 shades fairer'. This cream has been endorsed by many famous Indian actresses.

Variants of the cream also exist for men. Since so many Bollywood celebrities have endorsed these products in the past - they have been called out for their hypocrisy for speaking out against the Black Lives Matter movement.