Bhutt Out, Jabeer!

Holland & Barrett, the health food chain, has been criticised for “exploiting racism to make money” by race equality charities…

Good grief, what are they selling? The Sainbury’s ‘slave’ mannequin furore was bad enough.

… which have called on it to remove a skin-whitening product from its shelves.

Oh. Is that all?

The company claims it is intended to help people with age spots or sun-darkened skin, but equality campaigners say they are “shocked and quite disturbed” that a high street shop is “promoting a throwback to the racial hierarchies of colonialism and segregation”.

*rolls eyes*

Jabeer Bhutt, the deputy chief executive of the Race Equality Foundation, said it was “hugely irresponsible” of the company to sell the product, and asked for it to be removed from shelves immediately.

Why is it ‘irresponsible’? It’s a legal product with no H&S implications. That you’d prefer it wasn’t sold or used is neither here nor there…

Of course, you aren’t the only identity politics loudmouth, are you?

Maria Sobolewska, a lecturer and researcher in race and ethnicity in Britain at the University of Manchester, said: “They’ve clearly done their market research and want to cater to an increasingly influential BME [black and minority ethnic] market.”

Debbie Weekes-Bernard, the head of research at the Runnymede Trust race equality think-tank, said the company “clearly knows its target demographic and why they’ll buy it”.

She added: “Something marketed as a skin-whitening cream is not going to attract a raft of blonde women, so to say it’s for age spots doesn’t work. It’s an insult to generations of work done to encourage darker-skinned people to have pride in their skin.”

It’s pretty insulting to assume that everyone should think like you in order to be ‘authentic’, isn’t it?