If you’ve ever shopped in the makeup aisle of a store, then you’ve probably seen how every brand has images of flawless models advertising their products. Everywhere you turn, there’s another picture of a person so perfect that it hurts. The beauty industry has been utilizing photo-shopped images for years, but CVS Pharmacy is paving the way towards more self-love and image transparency with CVS Beauty Mark.
Last year, CVS introduced CVS Beauty Mark, a watermark on beauty imagery that identifies that there have been no alterations made to the authentic image. Alterations to an image can include changing a model’s skin or eye color, shape, proportion, or altering wrinkles or characteristics such as freckles. Customers can now see the phrases “beauty unaltered” or “digitally altered” on 70 percent of images in the beauty section at CVS, which also includes big brands such as Revlon, CoverGirl and Neutrogena. The company’s goal is to have all beauty imagery in stores and online reflect this standard of transparency by the end of 2020.
One of the motivating factors behind this campaign came from statistics found by the company involving mental health and beauty standards. Helena Foulkes, executive president of CVS Health, told CBS Newsthat they found that “80 percent of women feel worse about themselves after looking at beauty ads, and 42 percent of girls in grades one through three want to be thinner.” By making the effort to show more representation, diversity and authenticity in beauty through authentic images, CVS is sending a powerful message to its customers. Real people can see real images of what actual products look like on unedited faces. It is especially impactful for younger audiences to see beauty represented in all forms. CVS is celebrating and encouraging honest, authentic beauty and bringing back the joy of self-expression, and it’s refreshing to see.
