AbbVie and dermatology company skinbetter science published a new report that “sheds light on how narrowly defined Eurocentric ideals continue to impact women of color.”
The Forces of Beauty report surveyed more than 4,000 women aged 21 to 65 from multiple countries and backgrounds. It set out to find what defines beauty, how beauty impacts women's lives and how beauty and race are viewed.
The report found that only 17%, regardless of race and ethnicity, feel like their racial beauty is accepted by society, while 1 in 4 Black, Hispanic and multiracial women believe that society's standards of beauty are racist.
Alongside the report is a multimedia launch, with AbbVie saying in a press release that it will publish an “emotional” video series, directed by Taiwanese American writer and director Tiffany Frances, that will feature four women sharing their stories and experiences, which will link directly to chapters within the report.
Each chapter supports the report's overall findings, which notes that women of all races believe that “one of us cannot represent all of us,” the tagline of the report.
The series will also showcase how they feel that the standard of beauty should not be defined by only one group and that the origins of beauty and cultural practices “be celebrated without being exploited,” according to AbbVie.
“Historically, the industry hasn't included all women in its definition of beauty,” said Carrie Strom, senior vice president at AbbVie and president of Global Allergan Aesthetics, in the release. “As industry leaders our goal is to create a more equitable beauty and aesthetics industry that focuses on diversity, representation and inclusion. That is what Forces of Beauty is about, impacting change and creating a space where the origins of beauty are honored, the definition of beauty is vastly expanded upon, and where uniqueness is the standard.”
In tandem with the report, AbbVie has also penned a new deal with Shutterstock to create a royalty-free gallery of several thousand diverse images that are available to the public.
The idea is to showcase beauty across race, culture, gender, age, ability level and body type. “A driving force behind the gallery is the goal to encourage industry peers to leverage these assets within their own efforts, creating a first step towards collective change to a more equitable industry,” AbbVie said in the release. Shutterstock is also producing the video series.
The Forces of Beauty report comes out of the DREAM initiative, set up between AbbVie and skinbetter science back in 2020 to, in their words, “advance racial equity and diversity in dermatology and aesthetics.” Last year, the pair released a dermatology atlas displaying images of the most commonly seen dermatology conditions in an array of skin tones.
AbbVie nabbed Allergan (now Allergan Aesthetics) in a $63 billion merger that was signed off on back in 2020. Botox, approved as an anti-wrinkle injection and for several medical uses, was the jewel in the crown of that buy. The asset brings in more than $5 billion a year.
But Botox is not the only product AbbVie gained in the merger. The deal also added a number of aesthetics products to its portfolio, including chin fat reducer Kybella, dermal filler range Juvéderm and Cooltone and a magnetic body contouring treatment, among others.
AbbVie, always a big spender when it comes to commercials and awareness campaigns, has been ramping up its aesthetics campaigns this month alone, with the report and Shutterstock deal coming just weeks after it launched its latest aesthetic awareness campaign “See Yourself” aimed at showing how consumers use Botox.