Kanebo Recalls Skin-Whitening Products After Belatedly Acknowledging Complaints From Thousands Of Asian Consumers

Kanebo Cosmetics issued a recall of 54 types of its skin-whitening products in July 2013, following years of complaints from dermatologists and consumers in Japan and other countries in Asia since at least 2011. Kanebo belatedly publicly admitted it has received around 200,000 complaints, including from 4,061 consumers reportedly suffering from blotchy skin, with 1,828 suffering serious symptoms. The company has apologized for its failure to promptly act on the issue, in which profit was apparently the main issue, at a news conference and offered free checkups and medical advice for affected consumers. Aside from damaging the company’s corporate image and brand, the whole incident also caused harm to the other Japanese cosmetics companies.