Global make up brand Laura Mercier’s SG ad grilled for lack of diversity in KOL choice

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Laura Mercier Singapore has been called out on TikTok for the lack of inclusivity in the skin tones chosen for its latest ad campaign which features a collage of 25 KOLs, including Christabel Chua, Tina Yong, Munah Bagharib, and Germaine Leonora. This comes as the beauty brand celebrates its 25th anniversary with a limited edition collection of its translucent loose setting powder. The influencers shared why they liked Laura Mercier's loose setting powder and their favourite memory of it. The videos were only available on the respective influencers' pages instead of the global Laura Mercier page.

The TikTok video that has been making its rounds online was captioned: "Who thought it’d be okay to run an SG-based campaign with this shade range?" and currently has 2,242 likes and 82 comments. Most of the sentiments on TikTok were negative, with many in disbelief that such an incident would even occur in 2022. Some called this "disappointing" yet they weren't surprised while a few others also asked where their shade was. Some also asked who was the agency behind the ad and that Laura Mercier shouldn't even be calling it a range since its loose setting powder only has a handful of shades. At the same time, a few netizens also said this was "giving Watsons and Guardian vibes" since drugstores in Singapore are also commonly known to lack a diverse range of shades in their make up selection.

A check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE found that the shade medium deep is sold out on Sephora Singapore for the 29-gram product. The shades translucent and honey, however, are still available online at Sephora. Meanwhile, Lazada Singapore only sells the shades translucent and glow in 29 grams.

Laura Mercier, which was sold by Shiseido Group to private equity firm Advent International last year, did not respond to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE at the time of writing despite multiple attempts to contact the brand.

This incident also comes after a content creator named Tina Amir shared her experience of being dropped from a campaign because of her race. She explained that the client was a Korean skincare brand and the PR agency had reached out to her for a paid campaign. However, she was dropped shortly after given her race did not fit the target profile they wanted.

DEI is becoming increasingly important today and consumers not only expect it in their workplace but also in the ads they see. Brands, however, still seem to be experiencing similar faux pas around the lack of inclusivity. According to Ogilvy’s Influence Trends 2022 paper, today 38% of consumers are more likely to trust brands that cast diverse people in their ads. Without a doubt, brands would benefit by having diversity in their ads.

"This campaign is problematic in the way it has ivory-washed the Singapore customer," Charu Srivastava, deputy MD at Redhill, said, adding:

For a make-up brand that very clearly celebrates and serves diverse skin tones (as evidenced through its products and own Instagram account), this is a misalignment of its own identity and values.

According to Srivastava, it also begs the question of why this was done for Singapore and if the marketers at Laura Mercier truly thought this was what Singapore and its clientele wanted. "Or does Laura Mercier not want to serve the Singapore clientele who do not fall within the '50 shades of ivory' products that it is offering in the market?" she added.

According to CARMA Asia's statistics from 10 to 14 October, 60% of brand sentiment surrounding Laura Mercier was negative and only 20% was positive.

laura mercier wordcloud oct

In comparison, from 14 September to 9 October, the brand enjoyed a wholly positive sentiment (93.3%) and recorded 0% negative sentiment.

laura mercier wordcloud sept

CARMA Asia's GM, Charles Cheung, explained that often, these incidents become a catalyst for people to share their personal challenges relating to diversity, equality and inclusivity. And when a brand is involved, it may lead to consumers making negative associations with the brand.

"These incidents serve as a grim reminder of the speed at which one incident can quickly impact brand sentiment, which could have long-term repercussions on reputation. Hence, the importance for brands to act quickly and analyse social sentiment in the short- and long-term to identify and close any gaps in their reputation," he explained.

Meanwhile, Redhill's Srivastava said that the campaign and the resulting conversations unfolding on social media show that there is a clear misalignment in brand identity. It also made her wonder just how genuine and authentic brands such as Laura Mercier are about their DEI values. "Is the DEI conversation just convenient at that moment? Or is it something core to the brand identity?" she said.

Another area to consider is who is sitting in the room where these campaigns are being discussed and created. Srivastava explained that diversity and inclusion directly impacts the perspectives represented at such discussions. In fact, it can make the difference between blindsiding obvious sensitivities and nuances, including skin tone diversity for beauty brands," she said.

A previous report by R3 titled "Diversity: From agency to ads" said marketers can play a positive role and push for greater change in the narratives being developed by requiring diversity among creative directors and producers and demanding more inclusive organisational design.

On the agency front, the report found that 60% of them do not have a formal process in ensuring there is DEI in their work for clients. Also, 40% of agencies agree that they never see client briefs including specifications for DEI. The same percentage of agencies surveyed in Southeast Asia also saw no change in representations of race and ethnicity, ability, sexuality, gender identity and age in their work over the past 12 months.

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Srivastava also backed one TikTok user's comment which said that the campaign doesn't lack racial representation. Instead, she said, the issue is that the campaign stopped at just that and did not push itself further in being truly representative. "DEI is not just a moment, it’s a movement. DEI is about belonging, and this campaign clearly excludes a large group of its customer base who do not feel a sense of belonging," she explained.

Similarly, Winnie Pua, MD at antics@play, said Laura Mercier stopping short at the token gesture of engaging a multi-racial but all-around fair-skinned group of KOLs shows that it did take representation into account but didn’t get to the heart of the matter. "True diversity and inclusion not only includes those of darker skin tones but also those of different genders and age groups," she said.

Pua added that there were also no clear criteria or guidelines, whether externally imposed or internally fixed, to steer marketing/communication activities to better representation, or simply sense checks with those belonging to minority groups.

"Peeling away tokenism which manifests itself in Laura Mercier's politically correct engagement with a multi-racial group of KOLs, this is a result of decision-makers not yet having genuinely bought into diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging," she explained. Pua added that there may also not be enough people among decision-makers who be long in minority groups and/or are looking out and thinking for these groups.

Also, if a key selection criterion is popularity, then the blame also lies in the people who don’t support and/or pay attention to people who are older, not your typical beauty influencer, and/or not 'conventionally beautiful'.

Nonetheless, Pua believes this campaign to be a lone incident, more specifically "a boo-boo of the Singapore team" having only addressed representation halfway. Judging from its recent global marketing efforts, Pua said Laura Mercier has been consistently diverse and inclusive in the selection of people featured on Instagram and other ads. In fact, the individuals' profiles span race, skin tone, age, ability and gender.

laura mercier sg inclusivity2

Can brands really do more than just paying lip service?

While representation is important, brands also need to consider the ways in which it would be genuine sincere, respectful, and meaningful. "Arriving at the heart of the matter and addressing it head-on is key," Pua said, adding:

When the public asks for representation, what do they really desire to see, hear, feel, or think? What forms should representation take?

While Laura Mercier Global takes into account the belief that beauty and representation should be achieved across race, skin tone, gender, age, and ability, this is also a good time to consider expanding the celebration of beauty to include more diverse interests, preferences, pursuits, and lifestyles, Pua said. Potential personalities can include leisure diverse, gardeners, hikers, windsurfers, skateboarders, and water ballerinas, among others.

Just like how Rome wasn't built in a day, companies will also need time and continued investment to build up their DEI efforts. Through continued support and investment in a certain cause, Pua said this naturally shows sincere belief from brands.

Consumers these days are sharp and they are also increasingly discerning about the brands they support and the products they purchase. Redhill's Srivastava said these same consumers also aren't afraid of calling out problematic behaviours or boycotting brands. According to the Harris Poll in April, 82% of consumers want a brand's values to align with theirs. Meanwhile, three-quarters have parted ways with a brand as a result of conflicting values.

"DEI is then not a good to have, it is a must-have. It needs to be part of the brand from top to bottom and every other way. From hiring to creative to customer relations, every function should have a core mindset of being inclusive and embracing diversity," she said, adding that most importantly, the value of DEI has to be understood to fully ensure it becomes a part of the brand DNA.

A chance for agencies to step up

Also weighing in on the conversation was Lina Marican, regional MD at Mutant Communications, who told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that Laura Mercier Singapore's latest campaign shows that brands and their agencies need to do better when it comes to choosing influencers and evaluating creatives.

"For beauty brands, this should be the baseline bare minimum effort, given the harmful impact of Eurocentric standards of beauty on people of colour. Ask yourself: are you being as inclusive and representative as you can possibly be?" she said.

According to her, Mutant has worked on multiple KOL campaigns where it stepped in proactively to ensure the representation of different ethnicities, body types, and diverse skin colours. Sometimes, this means pushing back on client choices, too. While that might be challenging for some agencies given that not all clients would be receptive to push back, Marican said agencies can still do so by being brave and questioning the brief if it is not inclusive.

She also advised agencies to actively recommend diverse talent and influencers, as well as highlight the positive brand love they would receive from a wider audience who see themselves in the brand campaigns.

When content creator Amir previously spoke up about her experience of being dropped by a Korean skincare brand due to her race, that incident also spotlighted the role of PR agencies and their power to influence change. Given that PR agencies are often the go-between for clients and influencers, they will have to execute tough demands meted out by clients while also figuring out how to counter questionable client requirements.

A PR agency founder who works with several lifestyle brands previously told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE on the condition of anonymity that agencies must educate clients by giving real-world examples from famous brands across industries such as luxury, jewellery and fashion, which have all been extremely inclusive in their marketing campaigns. According to her, this makes any brand attractive and multi-dimensional, which then makes it inspiring to any target audience globally.

While changing a client's mindset is an ongoing challenge, it is still one that PR professionals must embrace, GM of SPRG, Edwin Yeo, also said previously. He said it would do brands well to remember that the PR function is much bigger than that. In fact, its primary goal is to engender trust in a brand, and to build corporate reputation.

Albeit challenging, clients will always need to be advised on the right move because this will help them gain consumers' trust, which then translates to long-term business sustainability, he explained.