CVS Pharmacy has released unretouched images of women on Thursday as part of its new beauty campaign that aims to avoid the use of digitally altered images.
Three women from across the U.S. flaunted their natural beauty in the first series of advertisements released by CVS since the company announced in January that it will no longer retouch images in its beauty campaigns.
Norman de Greve, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for CVS Health, explained that the "Beauty in Real Life" campaign was meant to inspire women.
"They don't need to be Photoshopped. There is just so much more depth and substance. It makes women just feel better," de Greve said, as reported by Daily Mail, citing WWD.
"We want it to be aspirational for women to say, 'Hey I want to look like that,' but feel it is realistic, too," he added.
According to Daily Mail, the unaltered images will be appearing on all CVS marketing materials, including advertisements in stores, websites, apps and social media.
In an effort to prove its commitment to transparency, CVS announced that the images in its advertisements will be marked with a logo to distinguish them from enhanced images.
The latest beauty campaign is part of the company's goal to stop using altered images completely by 2020.
In its announcement in January, CVS vowed not to digitally enhance a "person's shape, size, proportion, skin or eye color or enhance or alter lines, wrinkles or other individual characteristic."
The company stated that it is collaborating with its brand partners and industry experts to come up with specific guidelines.
"We want our beauty aisle to be a place where our customers can always come to feel good, while representing and celebrating the authenticity and diversity of the communities we serve," the company stated, as reported by Daily Mail.
At the time, then–CVS Pharmacy President Helena Foulkes pointed out the link between the unrealistic body image and negative health effects on women. She said that the company's goal was to ensure that the message that it sends out in its advertisement reflect its "purpose of helping people on their path to better health."
CVS is also encouraging other companies to reconsider the use of digitally enhanced images in their advertisements. De Greve said that the response to the campaign has been overwhelmingly positive and that the other beauty brands are also "excited about it and [are] reviewing how they shoot their models."
