The Objective? No Filters. Just Skin+Me.

Digital skincare business Skin+Me have recently launched their latest customer campaign: 'No Filters. Just Skin+Me', which celebrates six different company subscribers with six different skin journeys (Skin+Me, 2023a). The community-first and authentic philosophy behind this campaign is emphasised through the company's trailblazing imagery, featuring real people and real skin without the use of digital editing (Skin+Me, 2023a).

Skin+Me have stated that their primary objective for this campaign is to 'capture the joy and visible radiance from using skincare that truly works' (Skin+Me, 2023e). A series of blog posts will analyse the factors involved within pursuing this objective. To acknowledge the global skincare industry that surrounds Skin+Me, this analysis will explore where the brand and the campaign sit within a global context.

'No Filter's Launch post on Instagram' (Skin+Me, 2023c)

Digitally manipulated images have characterised the advertising industry throughout the past two decades (Cornelis and Peter, 2017). Image alerting within adverts can include models with their imperfections removed, and complexions airbrushed to perfection (Cornelis and Peter, 2017). These alterations featured across the national and global skincare industry could elicit a sense of brand mistrust amongst consumers. Therefore, Skin+Me's objective to illustrate genuine, unedited skincare results may allow consumers to view the brand as trustworthy. A created sense of brand authenticity may, as a result, strengthen the firm's competitive position when competing with companies on a national and global level.

Even with the campaign's objective of featuring authentic imagery, individuals may not relate specifically to the six faces and their skincare stories illustrated within Skin+Me's campaign. A lack of advertising relatability is becoming commonplace, highlighted by the 60% of British consumers who did not feel well represented by health and beauty advertisements in 2022 (Slater, 2022). Thus, although Skin+Me's campaign imagery is authentic, the positive impact of this authenticity may be skewed by the lack of relatability felt by individuals upon seeing the campaign. Skin+Me may, as a result, benefit from gaining feedback from their current consumers regarding how represented they feel when specifically viewing Skin+Me's campaigns. This may also be a beneficial practice to pursue if the company were to expand to a global market where there are a variety of imagery interpretations to acknowledge that may differ across international cultures.

The six faces of Skin+Me's campaign feature both men and women of different ethnicities. The unedited imagery of these individuals may allow the firm the potential to tap into empowerment marketing. This marketing strategy has been defined as contributing sustainably to broader values such as diversity and body positivity (Danthinne et al., 2022). By showcasing unedited, authentic images of a diverse range of individuals, Skin+Me is inherently aligning with the values associated with empowerment marketing. As a result, the company has the potential to reap the benefits of this marketing strategy.

The objective of authenticity at the core of Skin+Me's campaign may be threatened by the benefits global skincare brands see from utilising digitally altered marketing. Whereby, retouched photos may allow consumers to continuously compare themselves to this altered imagery (Perfect Retouching Inc., 2023). This comparison encourages the continuous consumption of goods in the hope of achieving an unachievable and unauthentic reality. For Skin+Me, this may pose a threat, as their competitors have gaged a strategy that ensures consistent purchases for their brand. However, it can be suggested that if Skin+Me emphasises the authentic imagery they have utilised within this campaign, the firm may reap the benefits of featuring unedited visuals.