The Pentagram-based environmental public service Do The Green Thing has teamed up with award-winning graphic designer Sarah Boris, young football players from Hackney Laces, teenagers from youth marketing agency Livity and young creative professionals from The Girlhood for its fourth Issue - ‘Not another make-up tutorial’.
Released in the run up to Halloween, the time of year when make-up is most likely to strike fear into our hearts, the Issue explores the beauty industry from a new perspective - its impact on the environment.
Most girls start wearing make-up between the ages of 8 and 13, and the race is on to market to these Centennials (the generation born after 1996) as they reach the intersection of adolescence, beauty standards, capitalism and social media. Brands and beauty bloggers alike know that building early awareness and loyalty amongst the dominant influencers of tomorrow is a vital - and extremely lucrative - opportunity.
‘Not another make-up tutorial’ is a counterweight to the pressures put on Centennials, many of whom are navigating a crucial developmental stage when they will define a set of ethics and a wider value system that will shape their decision-making into adulthood.
There are already enough grown-ups telling young people, particularly young women, how to be in the world, so ‘Not another make-up tutorial’ does not offer prescriptive advice. Instead, the Issue introduces a new perspective and suggests strategies - buy less, buy better, use everything you buy, make your own - that Centennials can use to wear make-up in ways that align with their values.
The Issue is made up of three pieces of content; an editorial piece that outlines the negative effects of make-up on the environment and potential routes to becoming a conscious consumer of beauty; a set of make-up illustrations by Sarah Boris who is best known for creating the ICA’s visual identity; and a short film which uses discarded face wipes to illustrate young women’s relationships with make-up, its environmental impact and how they plan to use it differently. The film is based on quotes from girls and young women involved in Hackney Laces, Livity and The Girlhood.
All three pieces of content are directed towards the same goal, to present an opportunity to Centennials - who are more socially conscious than any generation before - to establish a new, more planet-conscious approach to how they think about beauty and how they consume make-up.
