During the last few months, the slow move toward a beauty industry that represents all women has turned into a streak. The benchmarks keep coming, between the Fenty effect on foundation ranges, CVS phasing out Photoshop, women of all professions fronting CoverGirl, and as of yesterday, Revlon appointing Ashley Graham as its first plus-size spokesperson in over a decade. Today Babor continued the barrier-breaking theme, revealing a completely unretouched campaign—a first for a skin care brand.

Created in collaboration with the All Woman Project (AWP), Benjamin Simpson, Babor’s SVP of marketing, wrote in a press release that while the campaign has been in the works for months, the need for unaltered visuals is more important than ever. The brand’s aim was to showcase “empowerment, strength, inclusivity, imperfections, and true beauty, while provoking an important conversation that is at the forefront of every part of a woman’s life today,” Simpson wrote.

To that end, the company looked beyond the usual models we’re used to seeing in skin care ads (so: 20-somethings with “perfect” skin), and tapped a group of models, activists, mothers, designers, and editors for the campaign. Notable progress in beauty advertising representation started with including women of all skin tones, but the brand echoed both CoverGirl’s and Revlon’s decisions to include women of all sizes, ages, skin tones, textures, and professions. That group includes AWP cofounders Charli Howard and Clementine Desseaux; model, activist, and mother Denise Bidot; former model and Glamour editor Lauren Chan; Nykhor-Nyakueinyang Paul, international activist and model; Becca Thorpe, vice president of Muse Models and director of Muse Curve; 57-year-old model Nicola Griffin; and Sharon Lombardo, creative director at Anne Klein.

Desseaux, cofounder of the AWP and one of the models in the ads—which were created to market the brand’s AWPxBABOR Beauty Ampoule Set—said that coming from a French background and Europe’s rigid beauty standards, she’s especially attuned to the importance of diversity in beauty campaigns. “As a French woman who suffered from being ‘different’ growing up in my country, it’s important to me that beauty brands set an example and take a stand for diversity. Putting not only our imperfect, unretouched faces on their packaging but also our natural bodies shows how far they are willing to go in representing all women.”

From her perspective, Chan says the experience was no less significant, even given the vulnerability required to make it happen. “It was an uncomfortable shoot to do, being in underwear, unretouched, and lubed up in oil,” she told Glamour. “But you see the finished product, and you’re like, Damn, I feel really good about that. And to be honest, at first, I didn’t expect to. So hopefully when people see a beauty brand aligned with this, they feel a little more beautiful and a little more included.”

Chan said that while the surge of brands joining the self-love movement might seem like a fad, the test will be if companies commit to diversity in advertising. On Babor’s part, Simpson said he sees the shift becoming permanent. “I think we’re all looking for a lot more inspiration and a lot less aspiration. It’s time to get real about beauty and self-love, and take the focus away from what we perceive as our flaws,” he said. “We wanted to show a group of strong women and prove that beauty has no boundaries. There is an emotional connection and authenticity in what we’re doing, and we hope to connect with women who share our values. We took a long hard look at ourselves, and this was about doing what feels right.”

Source link