How Do Beauty Brands Speak Out for LGBTQ+ Community

Mac Cosmetics' Viva Glam campaign has been running for 29 years and has donated over $500 million to grantees such as the Hetrick-Martin Institute and the LGBTQ Center in Los Angeles.

Recently, MAC Cosmetics announced that this year's Viva Glam campaign will not feature limited edition lipsticks, but rather a day of giving to raise funds for organisations that support equal rights.

Mac Cosmetics plans to raise $500,000 this year

According to MAC Cosmetics, all sales of its lipsticks on June 9 will be donated to LGBTQ and women's rights organisations, and all lipstick sales (excluding lip glosses, lip balms, palettes and primers) made online and in standalone MAC shops will count towards the campaign.

“Opening up [the campaign] this year to include over 200 shades of lipstick in all sizes, allows us to broaden our reach and have interesting conversations with even those consumers who may not be aware of Viva Glam,” said MAC’s senior vice president and global chief marketing officer Aïda Moudachirou-Rébois.

To date, Viva Glam has donated more than $500 million to grantees such as the Hetrick-Martin Institute and the LGBT Q Center in Los Angeles, and in 2019 the brand is expanding the programme to benefit feminist organisations.

Last year, Mac piloted a 'Day of Giving' in the UK, raising $60,000 in 24 hours and prompting the brand to go global with the initiative. This year, Mac Cosmetics is aiming to raise $500,000.

“[$60,000] was massive for that market — we need to evolve our initiatives so they can be as impactful, and as breakthrough as they were when they were first born,” Moudachirou-Rébois said.

“These issues have changed and evolved over the years, and the technology available to improve on these issues has also evolved — we have the ability now to touch more people,” said Moudachirou-Rébois, adding that 2024 will mark both the 30th anniversary of Viva Glam and the 40th anniversary of MAC’s founding.

“From 1994 to 2023, Viva Glam is still the most important part of our brand — that has stayed the same,” Moudachirou-Rébois said.

(Credit: Mac Cosmetics Viva Glam Series)

Viva Glam has been around for 29 years

It is said that in 1994, Frank Angelo and Frank Tosca, founders of Mac Cosmetics, realized that no global beauty brand really embraced every gender, every size, every shape and every colour, and that very little was known about HIV and AIDS. To raise awareness of these two populations, they created a lipstick called Viva Glam.

To make more people aware of Viva Glam lipsticks, Mac tapped Rupaul Charles as the spokesperson. After the first marketing campaign, the lipstick became an instant hit and received more and more attention from consumers, capitalising on Rupaul Charles' popularity. Since then, over 50 celebrities have supported the Viva Glam campaign, including Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Elton John, and Lil' Kim.

(Credit: Vava Clam collection endorsed by Lady Gaga)

In 2019, Mac Cosmetics celebrates the 25th anniversary of Viva Glam with the launch of the 25th Anniversary Limited Edition Viva Glam Lipstick and announced it honored 10 heritage grantees that have been VIVA GLAM grantees from the beginning with $25,000 each, along with three large grants as part of VIVA GLAM’s expanded vision to support the work of Planned Parenthood, GLAAD and Girls, Inc. totaling $1.3 million to further their work in the areas of sexual health, LGBTQ rights and girls’ development respectively.

In March, the brand refreshed its 30-year-old Back to MAC sustainability program, partnering with Close the Loop and Plastics for Change to optimize its packaging recycling processes and support plastic collection workers.

Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the Viva Glam campaign and also the 40th anniversary of the Mac. Moudachirou-Rébois stated that “These issues have changed and evolved over the years, and the technology available to improve on these issues has also evolved — we have the ability now to touch more people.”

“From 1994 to 2023, Viva Glam is still the most important part of our brand — that has stayed the same,” Moudachirou-Rébois said.

Marketing for The LGBTQ community is a chance to build their brand image

LGBTQ is an acronym that serves as an umbrella term for certain sexualities and gender identities, representing "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people", also known as "rainbow people". In order to refer to anyone who is not heterosexual or non-cisgender, a popular variant, "LGBTQ", adds the letter Q for those who identify as cool or question their sexual or gender identity. The economy driven by the consumption of the LGBTTQ community is called the "rainbow economy".

According to Statista data, a total of 7.2% of American adults will identify as LGBTQ in 2022, a record high. Nearly 20% of Generation Z identify as LGBTQ, compared to 11.2% of millennials. Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2004, is the most homophobic generation in terms of self-identification.

According to the New York Times, the LGBTQ community in the US has an estimated annual purchasing power of $1.1 trillion. As times progress and evolve, it is believed that the purchasing power of the LGBTQ community will continue to grow.

The LGBTQ community's annual holiday in June, known as Pride Month, is the perfect time for the fashion industry to showcase its concern, inclusion and support for the LGBTQ+ community. CHAILEEDO has noticed that Mac Cosmetics' Viva Glam campaign has won over the LGBTQ+ community. And more and more beauty brands are speaking out for LGBTQ+ community as well.

One such brand is Dragun Beauty, a beauty company founded by transgender Nikita Dragun, which sold out in less than 24 hours when it was first launched on the website. Many of its beauty items sold out in seconds. "The first Trans owned beauty brand for Trans people and ALL people," she wrote on Instagram. "I'm so honored to have Trans, Nonbinary, Gender Fluid, models of all shapes, sizes, and colors a part of my campaign."

(Credit: Dragun Beauty products)

Meanwhile, beauty industry giants and retailers are beginning to overhaul the gender-specific status quo of their products. In 2018, Sephora launched make-up classes for trans and genderless customers. Chanel launched its men's beauty line Boy de Chanel, and Off-White's first beauty collection launched in April this year with a genderless positioning.

And one of the core aspects of marketing is to create an emotional connection. Supporting the LGBTQ+ community with tangible actions is what will move consumers. There are many ways to support this, the easiest being to donate in partnership with relevant charity organisations, an action that brands like Mac Cosmetics is taking.

American niche fragrance brand Boy Smells has also made its own contribution to the LGBTQ+ community by donating 10% of online sales of its PRIDE range of scented candles to The Trevor Project, the world's largest support organisation for the LGBTQ+ youth community. The body care brand The Body Shop also encouraged consumers to petition for affirmative action by guaranteeing that for every person who signs the petition. The Body Shop donates one dollar to the Equality Federation, which supports LGBTQ organizations.

And in China, LGBTQ+ people are slowly becoming visible to the general public. Dior China, for example, has taken the bold step of casting transgender public figure Jin Xing as the female lead in the brand's J’adore fragrance campaign in 2021. In the campaign, Jin Xing gives a large personal monologue in which she expresses her views and opinions on a range of topics such as female identity, independence and gender equality, gaining the attention and buzz of the public. Many netizens said that although the ad was not labelled as Pride Month, it was a marketing campaign with multiple socio-cultural connotations and definitely played a role in making people aware of and think about the LGBTQ+ community.

In today's situation, brands are no longer working alone and being genderless is no longer a 'politically correct' slogan, but a practical concept that is based on the product and meets the needs of consumers. Pride Month serves as a window into the development and importance of transgender culture internationally and how it can drive brand marketing.