It seems as though we still have some way to go in celebrating our natural beauty, not least of all in advertising. New research released in Australia this month suggests that 79 percent of women admit to retouching images of themselves before letting their friends or social networks see them. What’s more, 93 percent of these altered images are being uploaded by women, as real representations of themselves.
These findings sparked the idea for a new campaign from beauty company Trilogy: 100% Unretouched.
It means just what it sounds like. The natural beauty company took a bold step (can you imagine another large, mainstream company doing the same?) by making a promise to only feature unretouched images of women in its advertising. Naturally (pun intended!) Trilogy have sparked a national conversation around the issue in Australia and now, the world.
In the official campaign media release, Corinne Morley, global sales and marketing manager for Trilogy, said the company has “already received positive feedback from thousands of women through letters, emails and social media on retouching and it’s clear that our community not only wants to see realistic representations of beauty in advertising and the media, but are embracing their own natural beauty as well.”
It’s not a surprise; an average woman is subject to multiple images every day of perfectly Photoshopped women (who are usually great-looking models to begin with). As retouching technology has become more ubiquitous, we are seeing that faux perfection in places we never did before—from local low-budget ads to our friends’ wedding shots. And magazine covers and editorials are more and more heavily ‘shopped every year. And now we can all get in on the action: Even popular app Instagram allows you to apply different filters to your shots (though sometimes these can just be great to brighten a too-dark pic or make it look moody and fun). But plenty of Instagram selfies are more about how great the filters make your skin look, which is why one element of Trilogy’s campaign is to encourage women to use the hashtag #FilterFreeFriday when uploading images of themselves.
Trilogy’s asking for comments on the campaign app and for the public to share unretouched photos of themselves on the page and through other forms of social media.
The three ambassadors of the campaign are Zoe Foster Blake, a well known Australian beauty expert, writer and blogger, Trilogy’s Business Manager, Jenny and model Amanda, who has worked with the brand previously and whose natural beauty helped to inspire the campaign.
In fact, Amanda was the face of another Trilogy campaign called Every Face Has A Story To Tell which was a sort-of precursor to the current conversation. The images of Amanda were left unretouched for Every Face and the brand included a small note in the corner of the ads, letting their customers know they didn’t retouch the images because they were committed to celebrating real, natural beauty. The response was so overwhelming, that the 100% Unretouched campaign became a continuation of an already-great idea.
As a brand, Trilogy has always had a reputation for keeping things honest, innovative and natural. Founded in 2002 by Kiwi sisters Sarah Gibbs and Catherine de Groot, it has maintained its commitment to ethical and natural skincare. Rosehip Oil is the core of its product formulations and the label has even pioneered a method of extracting the purest, most potent oil from rosehip seeds for high performing, natural products.
It’s exciting to see beauty brands apply honesty, innovation and ethics to responsible marketing and advertising. Not to mention celebrating what it is that makes women naturally beautiful—their whole, real selves.
Images: Trilogy