Over recent months, we have seen a huge increase in brands wanting to deploy influencer campaigns to raise awareness and engagement amongst millennial and Gen Z audiences. Influencer campaigns are of course nothing new, but the strategic debate has moved on from whether to use a micro Vs Mega influencer, to questioning the authenticity and integrity of the images they actually produce. Raw and real influencers are becoming harder to find as trends are changing constantly.
The damage online content can have on mental health is irrefutable, with many of the globes biggest digital influencers altering their images to fit with current beauty trends: bigger bums, smoother skin, thinner noses, larger lips…setting an impossible beauty standard for our nation’s youth.
Following the inspired recent announcement by Ogilvy, who refuse to work with influential tastemakers who digitally alter their images, and the #bodyimagebill created by Dr Luke Evans that calls for brands and media outlets to display a logo where bodies have been digitally altered, we at Action Group stand by this movement. We commit to reinforce change, and challenge unrealistic beauty standards as a result of digital filters.
Recent NHS Digital data for England shows an estimated 1.25 million people in the UK are suffering from anorexia or bulimia, and more than one million are using steroids or image-enhancing drugs.
Last year, a government inquiry into body image found concerns about the way people look now “start younger, last longer, and affect more people than ever before”.
61% of adults and 66% of children feel negative, or very negative, about their body image “most of the time”, a Girlguiding survey found.
51% of 7-10-year-old girls feel “very happy” with how they look, but by age 11-16, when most girls start to use social media, this drops to just 16%.
In 2017, 88% of girls aged 11-21 said they wanted adverts that had been airbrushed to say so.
Depressing stats…
As custodians of many fitness, sports and wellness brands, we must uphold a new code of ethics that fundamentally opposes the bombardment of young people with digitally altered bodies and faces in campaigns, making them feel like they should look a particular way. To play our part in this important change, we launch the Action Group RAW code of ethics in influencer engagement:
We refuse collaboration with any influencers who filter, or alter their face or body in social media content:
Retouched images from influencers across proprietary digital channels won’t be considered
Authentic influencers with genuine relevance and images that portray a true likeness to themselves will only be used across our campaigns
Warped, edited, FaceTuned or filtered content will not be used by either us, or our influencers’ content for any brand campaigns
Having worked with multiple influencers in our world of health and fitness, we know just how damaging unrealistic body ideals can be, and we vow to make our digital world a more transparent place.
Check out some of our recent influencer campaigns here:
Les Mills: Pursuit of a Fitter Planet Press Event