Cult Beauty calls on government for regulation of enhanced beauty images
Cult Beauty has launched a new campaign to address the "damaging effects of enhanced beauty images on young people’s mental health".
The 'Can't (Re)Touch This' campaign is calling for restrictions on airbrushed model images to help minimise online harms and promote healthier attitudes towards beauty standards.
As part of this, the retailer has written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak demanding tough new laws regulating the use of enhanced beauty images.
“For too long beauty has been synonymous with a narrow set of, let’s be honest, unattainable ideals. As a society, we’ve celebrated thinness, youth and flawlessness — elevating certain attributes while vilifying everything beyond the strict parameters of ‘perfect’," explains Cult Beauty’s Managing Director Francesca Elliott in the open letter.
“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.”
Cult Beauty is also supporting a parliamentary bill proposed by MP Dr Luke Evans, which would make it mandatory to declare when an image has been digitally tweaked to enhance body proportions.
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The campaign also aims to display visuals which represent people of all shapes, sizes and colours without the need for digital changes.
Other measures include:
- Restrictions on retouching imagery shot by Cult Beauty creatives.
- A new labelling system on the brand’s digital media and social channels marking its images as ‘un(re)touched’.
- Plans for an additional labelling system for third-party, brand partner, and influencer images hosted on-site and on social channels so it’s clear when an image Cult Beauty has supplied is 'un(re)touched'.
- Evolved guidelines to ensure diversity and inclusivity sits at the forefront of its branding.
- A comprehensive review of Cult Beauty’s language guidelines for copy, to reframe the 'flaws’ that the industry has historically vilified.
Lucy Gorman, CEO of THG Beauty, said: “Young people are more vulnerable than ever before to the dangers presented by enhanced body images and unrealistic beauty standards.
"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. The measures announced today are only just the beginning.”
