Beauty

Estee Lauder Reviews Skin Lighteners as Beauty Confronts Racism

  • The review will look at skin-care and makeup lines.
  • Rival cosmetics makers have also been criticized.

The cosmetics maker is evaluating products for insensitivity.

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

Estee Lauder Cos. is reviewing its beauty products as it tries to head off the kind of criticism aimed at rivals who sold skin-lightening products with names and marketing language some consumers deemed insensitive.

The cosmetics company, which owns brands such as Clinique and La Mer, will re-evaluate skin-care and makeup lines for “cultural sensitivity,” top executives told employees last month in a memo obtained by Bloomberg News.