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Billie's New Campaign Is the First Razor Ad to Actually Show Body Hair


Body hair is having a (long overdue) moment in the spotlight. From Rihanna’s leg fuzz to Janelle Monae’s pubes, celebrities and social media alike are reclaiming what is absolutely natural. And because of that, body hair is finally losing its stimga as being taboo or “unclean”—except, weirdly enough, in advertisements. Ever see a razor commercial co-starring stubble? No? It’s weird, right?

Billie is trying to change that. The growing razor brand took on the notorious “pink tax” (the higher price companies charge for female-branded products versus those for men) when it launched a subscription service that reduces the cost of women’s shaving and body care products last year. Now starting today, it’s running a new campaign called the Project Body Hair. The advertisements feature women proudly displaying their body hair in all of its glory, including unibrows, leg hair, and everything in between.

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PHOTO: Ashley Armitage

PHOTO: Ashley Armitage

“We couldn’t help but notice the overwhelming amount of hairless skin in razor advertising,” explains Billie cofounder Georgina Cooley. “It was strange to us that these brands only show women ‘shaving’ perfectly smooth and hairless legs.” Plus, Cooley points out, the lack of body hair both “before” and “after” shaving reveals nothing about the efficacy of the razor. Body hair’s presence is just that atypical, even though few things are more natural and universal than leg stubble.

The lack of imagery of body hair both in advertising and otherwise is a problem, since its absence serves only to uphold its stereotype as something taboo. “When brands pretend that all women have hairless bodies, it’s a version of body shaming,” explains Cooley. “It’s saying you should feel ashamed of having body hair.” By putting body hair front and center, she aims to normalize body hair—whether or not you choose to keep it. Just like periods and acne ahead of it, it’s part of life.

So Billie tapped Ashley Armitage, a photographer known for her body-positive visuals centered on the female gaze, to shoot the new imagery for the brand. “It’s so exciting to be a part of a campaign that breaks beauty standards and taboos by showing real women with real body hair,” says Armitage. “I wanted to keep it natural, unposed, and playful.” The direction was more of a collaboration than anything else, she notes, which only adds to the comfortable, totally-at-ease vibe of the photos.

And Billie isn’t stopping at its advertisements. The brand is also donating photos of women with body hair to the stock photo site Unsplash for free use by the public, as well as crowdsourcing other body hair-happy images via the hashtag #projectbodyhair. The goal is for body hair, and not super-smooth, bare skin, to be the status quo.

PHOTO: Ashley Armitage

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If a razor brand promoting body-hair love seems contradictory, that’s sort of the point. It’s not supposed to sell you on the importance of razors, nor encourage you to drop them and let your pubes do what they may. “Shaving is a personal choice and no one should be telling women what to do with their hair,” says Cooley. “The fact is, we all have body hair. Some of us choose to remove it and some of us choose to wear it proudly—and either way, we shouldn’t have to apologize for our choice.”

Related Stories:
–6 Hair Removal Devices That Actually Work—and Don’t Hurt
–Social Media Is All About This Photo of Rihanna’s Leg Hair
–Hell, Yes, Janelle Monáe Is Pro-Pubic Hair in Her New Video





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Kim Kardashian Posted an Instagram Ad for an Appetite-Suppressing Lollipop, and Twitter Is Not Happy


Kim Kardashian—like several of her relatives—is no stranger to using her platform on Instagram to make a few bucks. But her latest product-endorsing post, for a Flat Tummy Co. lollipop that claims to be appetite-suppressing, has crossed a line, as far as her followers are concerned.

The image of her sucking on a cherry-red pop included the following caption: “#ad You guys… @flattummyco just dropped a new product. They’re Appetite Suppressant Lollipps and they’re literally unreal.” She went on the urge her followers to check out the website and get some for themselves.

Kardashian has since deleted the post, likely as a result of the fierce backlash it stirred up across social media platforms. Fans and critics alike have called out how problematic it is for Kim to advertise diet products like this—which aren’t proven safe or effective, and can encourage disordered eating—to her 111 million followers.

Good Place actress Jameela Jamil, who’s outspoken about body-positivity (and whom you might remember from the viral “I Weigh” Instagram account) did not mince words in a thread of tweets about Kardashian’s post.

“MAYBE don’t take appetite suppressors and eat enough to fuel your BRAIN and work hard and be successful. And to play with your kids. And to have fun with your friends. And to have something to say about your life at the end, other than ‘I had a flat stomach,'” she continued, ending with GIF-y flair.

Others on Twitter called out how troubling this kind of promo can be for people who struggle with food, and offered up some cool-headed advice to try instead of tricking your body into not eating.“With every flat tummy tea, lollipop, magical weight loss trick promoted, there’s someone with disordered eating thinking they need it,” one user wrote. “I understand that we live in a thin-obsessed society but we need to do better. We need to teach/learn healthy relationships with food,” added another.

In January, Kardashian also promoted a program from Flat Belly Co., which featured her holding milk in her underwear while drinking…something else?

And she’s not the only one in her family: Kylie Jenner infamously endorsed waist trainers that came as part of a “snap-back” package after she gave birth, perpetuating the pressure women feel to “fix” their post-baby bodies.

The Kardashian-Jenners are famous, in large part, for their looks, and so it makes sense that they’d use these assets to make some money. That can be empowering when done right—which would mean when promoting body-positivity, self-love, and healthy behaviors to their massive followings. Instead, they let down their millions of followers by making a quick buck on some potentially dangerous snake oil.

People may not follow Kim Kardashian for verifiable health advice, but surely she knows that her claims can come across that way—even the kooky ones.

RELATED: No Thanks, Kylie—I’ll Keep My ‘Post-Baby Body’





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L'Oréal Model Amena Khan Is the First to Wear a Hijab in a Mainstream Hair Ad


From banning Photoshop to casting diverse faces and launching inclusive shade ranges, beauty brands are shifting the way they speak to shoppers. They’re finally trying to speak to all of us. While some folks have questioned the motivation behind the diversification of beauty campaigns—especially after brands tried capitalizing on the success of what’s being called “The Fenty Effect”—this latest ad gets it right. For its new Elvive campaign, L’Oréal Paris UK brought on British beauty blogger Amena Khan as one of its new faces.

Even in a time when exciting, unique women are scoring beauty contracts left and right—shout-out to Maye Musk and Ayesha Curry—the decision to cast Khan, who wears a headscarf, isn’t only history-making (she’s the first hijab-wearing woman to be featured in a major mainstream hair ad), it’s also a step toward correcting a common misconception.

“How many brands are doing things like this? Not many. They’re literally putting a girl in a headscarf—whose hair you can’t see—in a hair campaign. Because what they’re really valuing through the campaign is the voices that we have,” Khan told British Vogue this week. “You have to wonder—why is it presumed that women who don’t show their hair don’t look after it? The opposite of that would be that everyone that does show their hair only looks after it for the sake of showing it to others. And that mind-set strips us of our autonomy and our sense of independence. Hair is a big part of self-care.”

In an industry where the definition of what it means to be beautiful has been markedly thin, this is a huge deal. Not only is L’Oréal saying to women and girls who wear hijab that they’re seen—the theme of the campaign is self-worth over self-doubt—but that how they are seen doesn’t define who they are. As Khan pointed out to Vogue, whether or not her hair is visible in public, how it looks and feels still matters to her: “For me, my hair is an extension of my femininity. I love styling my hair, I love putting products in it, and I love it to smell nice. It’s an expression of who I am.”

Related Stories:
–The Rise of the Plus-Size Face
–Sephora Cast Its Own Employees for Its Most Diverse Campaign Yet
–Glossier’s Inclusive New Campaign Is About More Than Soap and Lotion



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New York Times' Ad About Sexual Harassment to Air During the Golden Globes


In what’s sure to be a pivotal moment in the post-Weinstein, #MeToo era of Hollywood award shows, Sunday evening’s Golden Globes will include, among a number of other definitive proclamations of protest, a powerful new commercial from The New York Times.

The news outlet—which was the very first to break the story on the sexual harassment allegations against film industry titan Harvey Weinstein last October—has partnered with ad agency Droga5 to create a commanding—and chilling—promo spotlighting the issue of sexual assault.

Though a mere 30 seconds, the TV spot is incredibly affecting—due largely to its chilling austerity and deliberate word choice. It begins by repeating the phrase “He said. She said.” numerous times in a hugely symbolic representation of the countless women who have come forth over the last few months to bravely recount their experiences with sexual misconduct. The ad then powerfully concludes with: “The truth has power. The truth will not be threatened. The truth has a voice.”

In an interview with Ad Age, Julie Matheny, associate creative director of Droga5, explained the significance of the language used in this carefully-crafted ad: “We thought that using language that has been used to silence women in the past and turning it on its head was a simple way to show the clear distinction between the way the world was merely a year ago and the way it is now.”

According to a press release from the newspaper, released today, the promo is “the first in a series of new ads the Times is planning for this year that will focus on its unwavering commitment to original, independent journalism that holds power to account.”

Watch the ad, below:

Related Stories:

Post-Weinstein, These Are the Powerful Men Facing Sexual Harassment Allegations

In 2018 Are We Allowed To Enjoy the Red Carpet?



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Dana Nessel Campaign Ad for Michigan Attorney General Takes On Sexual Harassment


What a week. Doesn’t it already feel like Harry and Meghan announced their engagement 100 years ago?

After starting Monday off on such a happy note, the news cycles that followed have continued to focus on the sexual misconduct reckoning that started with Harvey Weinstein and show no signs of slowing. It’s important, obviously, and I hope it continues. But as a woman, it also weighs heavily on my spirit.

Never did I think the pick-me-up I so desperately needed would come in the form of a campaign ad from Dana Nessel, who is running for Attorney General in Michigan. But in 2017, up is down and anything is possible. I know what you’re thinking because I was thinking it too: “2018 campaign ads already? The midterms are so important but can’t we at least get through the holidays first?!?” But that’s just because you haven’t seen Nessel’s badass ad yet.

She opens by commenting that if recent news has taught us anything, it’s that more women are needed in office before launching into some 2017 real talk: “Who can you trust to not show you their penis in a professional setting? Is it the candidate who doesn’t have a penis? I’d say so.” This is where Dana Nessel became one of my new favorite people. She cemented her slot by going on to argue that there is nothing wrong with what could become an all-female Democratic ticket for major state offices. PS: Go Michigan!

Nessel then lays out what she will not do: Sexually harass her staff, tolerate sexual harassment in your workplace, walk around in a half-open bathrobe, use tax dollars to silence victims, or join right-wing lawsuits that make it harder to get health insurance.

And the kicker? She totally nails that, too. “Yes, I’m a woman. That’s not a liability, that’s an asset.”

Preach, Dana. Preach.

Watch the entire ad here:

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Lilly Singh's New Pantene Ad Is About So Much More Than Shiny Hair


When I was growing up, I went through the typical laundry list of possible life callings and careers. At one point, I firmly landed on the decision that I wanted to be an actress (kids are dreamers, right?). I tried out for school plays and watched as many movies as I could, but one thing stopped me in my tracks. Flipping through magazines and clicking through pictures online, I realized I’d never be able to change my hairstyle to fit different roles. I couldn’t even to be a model in those very magazines—because I didn’t cut my hair.

I’m the daughter of two Punjabi Sikh immigrants, which means I grew up trying to balance my family’s native culture with the norms in my midwest hometown—a predominantly white area where people were curious about the long, black/brown braid I wore every day. One easy marker of my faith—which originated in a northern region of India called Punjab—is long naturally kept hair. Based on Sikhism’s deep philosophical and humanitarian roots, both men and women practice this ritual because long hair is a symbol of respect for divine creation.

My mom always told me my hair was a mark of beauty, but for much of my life, I felt like it held me back. When layers became a thing, I couldn’t participate. When my friends were getting balayage, I had to opt out of chemically treating my hair (even though I really wanted that sun-kissed look).

My mom always told me that long, natural hair is a mark of beauty, but for much of my life, I felt like it held me back.

Like most people in their young age, my perspective on beauty was informed by the people who surrounded me at school, and the people who (I thought) were lucky enough to be on television, in movies, and online. In both of these cases, I felt that these people were afforded a certain freedom that I was not—to change their hair in any way they wanted—and it made me feel constrained.

These feelings of “being held back” leaked into other parts of my life. I felt that because I didn’t have a choice in looking like everyone else, other areas in my life—how I did in school, job interviews, even if people wanted to be friends with me—were at the mercy of external circumstances. The main thing that continued to push this belief throughout my adolescence was that I never saw someone like me go forth and do the things I saw everyone else doing, like pursuing nontraditional careers that weren’t science or engineering related. Life was separated between Hollywood/American media and Punjabi-American girls. There was zero intermingling between the two.

Beyond just surface appearances, what I really lacked was a female role model who was literally just like me: a Punjabi girl, growing up in a Western world, walking the tightrope between two different sets of beauty standards and expectations of how women are supposed to be.

Then came Lilly Singh. I came across her YouTube channel in her earlier days, while she was already gaining traction within the Punjabi community. Her videos and the explosion of her popularity—mostly due to her wit, confidence, and spot-on impressions of everyday life as a child of immigrants—left an impression on me. Not just because we looked like each other, with our long waist-length hair, but because she finally put onto the screen what me, my peers, and millions of us in the U.S. had lived as a reality. And she did it in a way that had us laughing about our experiences instead of trying to hide them. If you’ve ever tried casually talking to your Punjabi parents about dating, you know what I mean.

First generation Indian-Americans are part of a unique era, in which our country is reflecting on the value of its diversity and how to move forward with it. With over 2 million Indian-born immigrants living in the U.S., and even more that are American-born with Indian heritage, it’s becoming increasingly important to be represented in the media that speaks to us every day—in movies, TV, as online personalities, and yes, even as spokespeople for our favorite companies and brands. Figures like Lilly, Priyanka Chopra, Aziz Ansari, Hasan Minhaj, and Mindy Kaling play an important role in representing this specific immigrant demographic within an industry that has historically only told one side of the multi-faceted story of Americans. Stars like Lilly tell another side of the story.

I used to scornfully watch shampoo ads with beautiful women and styled hair and think that I could never be one of them. Which is crazy, because when you’ve never cut your hair in your entire life, you really need to take care of it. Shouldn’t that be a community hair care brands want to target? Seeing Lilly, in all her long-haired glory, representing Pantene and continuing to garner millions of views and fans, is an important step in being included in that narrative. I’m often asked, in good nature, about the length of my hair and the backstory of my family’s culture. I’m always happy to share, but I also daydream about the moment in time when I don’t have to explain because people already know.

Right now, she’s only a spokeswoman for the brand in India, meaning her ads won’t air in the US. But the power of social media is that images like the below can reach farther and wider than any TV campaign.

Most importantly, seeing a Punjabi girl represented in a beauty campaign is a reminder that constraints are sometimes just self-created. I don’t, anymore, feel I’m at the mercy of external circumstances. It took me a while to get here—I left the midwest to travel the world, where I became friends with people from many different countries. I gained a better understanding my personal vulnerabilities, which helped me overcome my self-inflicted barriers. Now I feel I can do what I want, with both my physical appearance but also the power of my intelligence and talent. And I can do these things not in spite of what makes me the daughter of Sikh immigrants, but because of it.

Brands who feature diverse women meet us halfway on this personal journey by saying “Your story is important enough to be featured. Your hair is important enough to be showcased. You are our definition of beauty.”

My acting skills may never be good enough for Hollywood. But at least my hair can be.

Related Stories:
–Priyanka Chopra Explains Why She Didn’t Want to Settle for the “Exotic” Indian Character
–Lilly Singh: “One of the Most Controversial Things I’ve Ever Said Was That I’m a Feminist”
–Why I Hate Being Called an “Exotic Beauty”



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