Edgewell Gets Unfiltered
As part of its efforts to lean more heavily into social media, Edgewell Personal Care wants to connect with beauty consumers while reinforcing realistic beauty standards.
The CPG, which includes such brands as Edge, Billie and Skintimate in its portfolio, is piloting a beauty mirror under its Schick brand that lets consumers livestream unedited content to Instagram and TikTok. The intention of the device, which features a built-in smartphone slot, is to eliminate the distraction of likes, comments, and other engagements on the social platforms — therefore “removing the ability to filter content before sharing with the world,” the company noted in a statement.
In launching the prototype, which is being timed with the brand’s new Hydro Silk Dermaplaning Wand, Edgewell cited the SeekHer Shift 2022 Report on the State of Women's Mental Health, which found 32% of women say their body image and self-esteem are negatively impacted by social media, and 42% say they have difficulty showing themselves forgiveness and self-love because their imperfections make them feel less worthy or valuable as a person.
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In order to align with Mental Health Awareness Month in May, the Hydro Silk's "You, Unfiltered" campaign features beauty influencers using the mirror to produce live and unfiltered beauty content across Instagram and TikTok. The device is being live-demoed by several beauty influencers using the Hydro Silk Dermaplaning Wand, who are also addressing the mental benefits of being unfiltered — with the hopes of sparking a dialogue about unrealistic beauty standards, according to Edgewell.
Melissa Murphy, senior brand manager for Schick Hydro Silk, said the company has had a challenging launch as it was unable to secure a prominent influencer who would demo the product live.
"We realized that while the conversation about going unfiltered isn't necessarily 'new', many well-known influencers, whom millions of women look up to, still don't feel comfortable being completely vulnerable and unfiltered,” she noted. “That told us how important this message was, so we pivoted our strategy and challenged a group of authentic and diverse social media influencers to share their stories and kick-start a new conversation about beauty."
