“Diversity & Inclusion”

The Charm of Differences that Leads to the Alluring Beauty Industry

In the past few years, many people have often heard about “Diversity & Inclusion” or D&I, which conveys the idea of advocating diversity, differences, and inclusion. For example, respecting and valuing an individual who comes from a different background, has a different mindset, speaks a different language, and conforms to a different culture that constitutes their identity. At the same time, the trend of Diversity & Inclusion has increased its influence especially in the beauty industry that will become even more apparent in 2022, with many industry gurus defining Diversity & Inclusion as a multifaceted and boundaryless beauty. There will be no discrimination against gender, skin color, race, or sexual orientation. All beauty standards will be celebrated and valued. This is the origin behind the theme of COSMEX 2022 - "Beauty Beyond Boundaries" that will invite entrepreneurs in the beauty industry to update trends, find inspiration to create something new and better, and help to elevate beauty to a new dimension together.

The "Diversity & Inclusion" has a remarkable influence on the beauty industry!

May 21 has been designated The World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. It was established by the United Nations in 2002 as an opportunity to “help communities understand the value of cultural diversity and to achieve the 4 goals of Convention on the Protection of UNESCO as well as promoting diverse cultural expressions.” Although more than 20 years have passed, we cannot deny that the subject of diversity has still been debated by different groups of people in various contexts. So, how does diversity influence the beauty industry? Let's look at some examples together.

Beauty in the diversity of skin colors-ethnicity

Back in 1989, Naomi Campbell was featured on the cover of the September issue of Vogue. This is the first time a black woman appeared on the cover of the magazine's September issue which was the most important issue of the year. A year before that, in August 1988, Campbell was also the first black woman on the cover of the French edition of Vogue magazine. This was a revolution as well as a show of respect for a different kind of beauty. In 2017, there was a small revolution in the beauty industry led by Rihanna, a world-renowned pop artist who launched a cosmetic brand Fenty Beauty which offered a huge selection of 40 different shades of foundations. This was an impressive debut because the brand represents diversity and inclusion, as well as showing that beauty can be embraced by every woman of every skin color.

Beauty in the variety of body images

Gucci has launched a beauty campaign called "Unconventional Beauty" in June 2020 to celebrate the beauty of diversity and promote body positivity by choosing Ellie Goldstein as the first model with Down's syndrome to promote "Mascara L'Obscur." This campaign was not only incredibly well received by the public, but the Instagram post of the shoot was also reported to be one of the most popular. The campaign had created a market value of about US$6 million.

Beauty in diversity of genders and sexual orientation

For example, Laka Brand- is the first gender-neutral makeup brand in South Korea, and the cosmetics brand MAC launched the M.A.C VIVA GLAM project, which has raised more than US$500 million to help people battling HIV or AIDS. It also promoted a healthy future and equal rights for women, girls, and the LGBTQ community. MAC recently selected a Spanish singer-songwriter Rosalia, who writes and sings to empower women as their new lipstick ambassador which hugely impressed the beauty influencers and created a market value of approximately US$6.5 million.

Beauty in the uniqueness of my identity (ME)

There is a movement that supports deviation from traditional beauty standards by encouraging women to be confident and respect their individual beauty. For example, the Thai cosmetic brand Mistine has launched a landmark brand turning point in over 30 years through a famous campaign 'Chan-Man-Na' (I am confident) under the concept of I'm Perfectly Me. The campaign presented women with a ‘girls-next-door’ vibe instead of popular actresses or top models to communicate that women should be proud of their beauty regardless of their face shapes, lips, or brows. In essence, anyone can be beautiful. This campaign has received an overwhelmingly positive response and becomes a social media sensation especially among the new generation of consumers who are prime targets of many cosmetic brands.

All of these stories further emphasize that defining beauty through the filter of diversity will become a powerful force in the modern beauty industry. Therefore, entrepreneurs in the beauty industry, brand owners, and OEM/ODM around the world need to pay more attention to the voices of their consumers. At the same time, they will need to research and develop new products that can serve the needs of diverse markets which will consequently create unprecedented value addition and influence in the beauty industry.

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About COSMEX 2022

Everyone deserves to be beautiful, and every beauty business deserves success. Therefore, COSMEX 2022 will transcend every limitation by serving as a platform that encompasses the manufacturing technology for beauty equipment, packaging, and OEM/ODM services from over 200 international brands who will come together to provide updates and ideas for creating diverse beauty products. It will also serve as a meeting place for over 10,000 beauty entrepreneurs and brand owners from start-ups to large enterprises to unveil new business opportunities, impart knowledge through conferences and special activities, and co-located with “in-cosmetics Asia,” a leading global cosmetics ingredients show. COSMEX will be organized during 1-3 November 2022 at BITEC, Bangkok, and will be an all-in-one journey to success beyond imagination.

Source images: Gettyimages, Laka.official