47 Skin’s new campaign challenges beauty advertising norms

In a quest to challenge beauty norms, 47 Skin is showcasing natural skin in its latest campaign to prove the effectiveness of its skincare. “No models. No makeup. No retouching” is what the British skincare brand’s shoot was all about.

The series of portraits captures “real customers”, who have suffered from acne. It portrays their newfound skin confidence after using 47 Skin and its unique power-packed ingredient.

Daisy, George, Nicole and Jan each had aggressive or scarring from acne. The four were brought to Hackney Studios for their first-ever photoshoot to capture their newfound confidence since improving their skin. To put their confidence to the test (and show off their skin high definition), the brand put the portraits in Leicester Square, on the largest screens in central London.

The brief for the shoot was simple: Real people, real skin The challenge was knowing that there would be no retouching, only simple colour correction, so everything had to be captured in-camera.

Creative Director Jamie Romain, commented: “47 Skin has been brave in doing something that breaks the norm of the category. They’ve got a product that is genuinely helping people and this campaign stands out a mile from their competitors - not just because these real customers look incredible, but because in a world where we’re still surrounded by retouched images of people with perfect skin and coated in makeup, this campaign is an important step towards breaking the myth of perfect skin.”

Nicoles reaction to seeing her campaign shoot on the big screen

The concept of a real shoot with real people was especially important to founder Nic Taylor, who spent years trying to find a solution to his skin problems. He commented: "So many brands sell you the idea that they have the answer and that it’s worth the cost, but it either doesn’t help or creates other issues for which you have to buy more expensive products to fix and so the cycle continues".

It was Taylor's grandmother who discovered a local scientist working on a formula for skin and she sent him a bottle with a handwritten note. He was sceptical, but it cleared up his skin in four days. He later tracked down and partnered with the scientist behind the formulation. Now their mission is to spread the word through their range of products and skin-positive messaging.

Nic Taylor, Founder of 47 Skin, said: “At 47 Skin, we understand exactly how spots, blemishes and skin concerns can make you feel from the inside out. I was so proud to be sitting at a beauty leaders’ lunch and to be able to say ‘we only use real customers in our shoots’. None of the others could”.

“For us, using real customers just felt like the most natural fit. As anyone knows who’s suffered from any skin concerns whatsoever, to have your face blown up on a 60ft screen is not something you’d be particularly delighted about. So to see their reactions to that and them not only not be horrified, but be delighted by it… it’s just incredible.”