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To: Takealot.com CEO, Amit Kumar
Takealot, discontinue Carotone on your platform
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Products containing hydroquinone, a skin-lightening and bleaching agent, are banned in South Africa and should only be purchased with a prescription from a pharmacy, a registered doctor, or the Department of Health. Yet products like Carotone, which contains hydroquinone, are still sold on Takealot without a prescription.
We, the undersigned:
- Demand that Takealot stop selling Carotone cream on its platform.
- Demand that Takealot investigate the other Carotone products being sold on its platform and ensure they are legal and safe to use.
It is very irresponsible for Takealot to host a product with ingredients that have been banned for being harmful. Even after it became known that certain products on its platform were illegal, they keep selling them [1].
Why is this important?
Carotone has been scientifically proven to have high levels of a dangerous ingredient called hydroquinone [2]. Yet Takealot hosts it on its platform for people to buy. Many people don’t question the quality of the products they buy on the Takealot website because of how it markets itself. Carotone has been banned in the UK, US and other countries [3], but in South Africa, it is paraded online even though it's not safe to sell it to people without a prescription.
Takealot must remove Carotone as soon as possible and ensure that all products listed on its platform are safe and legal to sell. We cannot allow Takealot to profit at the expense of people’s health.
Judging by reviews dating back to 2022, it's clear that Carotone cream has been sold on Takealot for years, meaning they have been getting away with it for far too long. Some media houses have been blowing the whistle on the sale of harmful products on platforms like Takealot [1], yet nothing has changed. But we can stop this by signing this petition and ensuring that Takealot sells products that are vetted, legal and not harmful to people.
[1] Skin-lightening whitewash: Global and domestic bans of cosmetics containing mercury prove to be skin-deep, by Tony Carnie for Daily Maverick, 15 February 2021
[1] Skin-lightening whitewash: Global and domestic bans of cosmetics containing mercury prove to be skin-deep, by Tony Carnie for Daily Maverick, 15 February 2021
[2] FDA Warns Consumers of Skin Products Containing Mercury and/or Hydroquinone by U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 06 January 2026.
[3] Product Safety Report: Carotone Clarifying Cream (2501-0012g) by the UK’s Office for Product Safety and Standards, 14 February 2025.