Johnson & Johnson will stop selling its line of popular skin whitening creams in the U.S. in response to criticism that the company promotes white skin as preferable over Black skin.
The pharmaceutical company announced its decision on Friday after multiple corporations decided to “retire” Black characters that served as logos on their consumer products for over a century.
Johnson & Johnson will cease selling skin brightening products such as Neutrogena Clean & Clear dark spot reducer and Neutrogena Naturals skin brightener cream in the U.S.
“Conversations over the past few weeks highlighted that some product names on our Neutrogena and Clean & Clear dark-spot reducer products represent fairness or white as better than your own unique skin tone,” reads a company statement. “This was never our intention — healthy skin is beautiful skin.”
Johnson & Johnson will continue to sell the majority of skin whitening products in Asia.
The company will not remove products that are already on store shelves in the United States. But the products will not be replaced once supplies run out.