Johnson & Johnson pulls skin-whitening products sold in Asia, Middle East

NEW YORK -- Johnson & Johnson is pulling two product lines once promoted as dark-spot reducers that were popularly used to lighten skin, the company has announced.

The pharmaceutical giant and manufacturer will no longer be selling its Clean & Clear Fairness line in India and Neutrogena Fine Fairness line in Asia and the Middle East, a spokesperson confirmed to Fox News on Monday.

Calls to remove products, brands and logos with problematic histories and racist connotations have swept the globe following the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in police custody.

“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 in a statement. “This was never our intention – healthy skin is beautiful skin.”

The company will no longer be producing or shipping the Clean & Clear Fairness or Neutrogena Fine Fairness creams, J&J said.

"Our website and retailer pages are being updated now to remove links to purchase. For a short while products may still appear on a limited number of in-store shelves as stock runs through," the spokesperson explained.

Neither product line was sold in the U.S., they added.

The Johnson & Johnson-owned Band-Aid brand also recently announced it would be creating new bandages to match more diverse skin tones — though some social media commenters criticized the company for taking so long to do so.

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