Prince Harry and Meghan Markle facing storm over a deal with US firm

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex face questions over their partnership with an American cosmetics firm that makes tens of millions of pounds a year selling ‘racist’ skin-whitening creams.

Meghan and Harry last week announced their Archewell Foundation had signed a ‘global partnership’ with US multi-national Procter & Gamble (P&G) to ‘build more compassionate communities’.

But the deal has thrown a spotlight on P&G’s hugely controversial sale in Asia and Africa of skin-lightening creams, which reduce the concentration or production of melanin – the natural pigment that gives human skin its colour.

Campaigners have demanded that P&G and other major firms stop selling such creams. 

© Provided by Daily Mail
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex face questions over their partnership with an American cosmetics firm

They say the products fuel a ‘toxic belief’ that ‘a person’s worth is measured by the colour of their skin’ and that light skin is better than dark.

An investigation by The Mail on Sunday has found that Olay – a major P&G skincare brand – sells White Radiance moisturiser in India, Malaysia and Singapore.

In India, the product is said to lighten skin tone and deliver ‘radiant and brighter skin’. 

In the Philippines, P&G sells Olay White Radiance Light Perfecting Essence, which ‘inhibits melanin formation in the deepest layer of skin’. In Lagos, Nigeria, an MoS reporter last week bought Olay Natural White cream,…