The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The beauty and personal care conglomerate announced it would eliminate the descriptor — which can read as exclusionary — from all of its beauty and personal care brands’ packaging and advertising. The company also said it will no longer “digitally alter a person’s body shape, size, proportion or skin colour in brand advertising, and will increase the number of advertisements portraying people from diverse groups who are under-represented.”
The announcement follows a 10,000-person study Unilever commissioned across nine countries, asking consumers their feelings about inclusivity in the global beauty market. More than half of respondents said the beauty and personal care industry makes them feel excluded.
Unilever’s announcement is yet another marker of change in corporate beauty. Over the last few years, emergent direct-to-consumer beauty brands have taken a more inclusive approach to marketing and advertising. Along the way, larger beauty behemoths took notice and began to shift away from certain language. Anti-ageing became “pro-ageing,” for example. Riding the same wave towards more inclusive beauty marketing, Ulta Beauty pledged $20 million in February towards media investments that target Black and LatinX consumers, part of the retailer’s larger diversity initiative.
As awareness grows about the perils of sleep deprivation, beauty and wellness brands are flooding the market with an array of products to cash in on the booming opportunity.
Going public is usually a pivotal moment in a company’s history, cementing its heavyweight status and setting it up for expansion. In L’Occitane’s case, delisting might be a bigger conduit for growth.
Brands say they’re barreling ahead with marketing and commerce on the app, even as the clock starts ticking for owner ByteDance to sell it or shut it down.
The Spanish beauty and fashion conglomerate’s smart acquisitions and diverse portfolio could be a big draw for investors. Plus, Adidas is set to confirm its stellar first quarter.