Some of the biggest beauty brands being sold in New Zealand announced on Tuesday they would be removing the word "normal" from products as part of a new "equitable and inclusive" policy.
Unilever, which owns various beauty brands including Dove, Rexona, Lynx, TRESemmé and Sunsilk, is launching a new 'Positive Beauty' strategy.
"The decision to remove 'normal' is one of many steps that we are taking to challenge narrow beauty ideals, as we work towards helping to end discrimination and advocating for a more inclusive vision of beauty," the company said in a statement.
"It comes as global research into people's experiences of the beauty industry reveals that using 'normal' to describe hair or skin makes most people feel excluded."
Unilever commissioned a study of over 10,000 people in nine countries and results show more than half of people find the beauty and personal care industry exclusive.
A similar number (52 percent) say they now pay more attention to a company's stance on societal issues before buying products.
The company also stated it wouldn't digitally alter a person's body shape, size, proportion or skin colour in brand advertising and will also "increase the number of advertisements portraying people from diverse groups who are under-represented".
Spokesperson Markus Rehde, general manager of beauty, personal care and homecare said in a statement: "We recognise that images portraying a certain kind of beauty affect all of us - men, women, children, and people of all ages and ethnicities."
"New Zealand is one of the most diverse countries in the world, and it is important that the language we use on our popular products, such as shampoos, moisturisers, and deodorants, reflects our customer base as well as our values as an inclusive brand."
Dove scrapped photoshopping in marketing campaigns as part of its 'real beauty' campaign back in 2018.
