Cult Beauty has banned re-touched photos of all its products as part of a campaign to tackle the effect of airbrushed images on young people’s mental health.
The campaign titled ‘Can’t (re)touch this’ aims to reduce the number of airbrushed model images in an attempt to turn the tide on the growing epidemic of eating disorders and mental health problems among young people.
Set to run as a multichannel campaign, it features visuals which represent people of all shapes, sizes and colours in order to promote a healthier attitude towards online beauty standards.
Some of the measures the beauty brand is introducing include restrictions on retouching imagery shot by Cult Beauty creatives; a new labelling system to mark its images as ‘un(re)touched’; plans for an additional labelling system for third-party collaborations; and a review of Cult Beauty’s language guidelines to reframe the meaning of ‘flaws’.
The beauty brand is also urging the industry to support a ‘Digitally Altered Body Images’ parliamentary bill which would make it mandatory to declare any airbrushed images used to enhance body proportions.
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Calling upon prime minister Rishi Sunak to introduce tough new laws around the use of enhanced body images, Cult Beauty is also encouraging the wider industry to voluntarily sign a ‘Body Image Pledge’ while the bill is still being debated by parliament.
The campaign follows reports of the number of children being treated for eating disorders on paediatric wards in the UK has more than doubled in the last three years, with a recent Mental Health Foundation report finding over 35% of adults and 31% of teenagers surveyed in the UK felt ‘ashamed’ or ‘depressed’ because of their body image.
“Young people are more vulnerable than ever before to the dangers presented by enhanced body images and unrealistic beauty standards.” said THG Beauty CEO Lucy Gorman.
“The damaging impact this can have on a teenager’s self-esteem and mental health are well documented, and as an industry leader we believe we owe it to the beauty industry to have a platform where they can make a difference.”
Gorman added that the measures announced today are only just the beginning.
Cult Beauty’s managing director, Francesca Elliott, commented: “Spots, wrinkles, cellulite, body hair — these are just examples of normal things that have been airbrushed out of ads and model images for decades — meaning to be ‘beautiful’ we have had to reject the reality of our bodies and adapt to a mould that wasn’t made for us.”
