This study proves just how similar the spokespeople for different brands look
We hear it all the time, how there is a SERIOUS issue regarding lack of diversity in advertising and the media. But, now, design company Canva put the theory to the test when they looked at models’ faces from a variety of brands.
“We took the most frequently featured faces for numerous widely marketed brands and averaged them together,” said Canva’s website. “For some brands, it was impossible to get pictures for every single spokesperson, but we did our best to get as many as possible for the averages. Each average consisted of at least 10 photos (when the average includes both men and women).”
One of the six categories Canva investigated was beauty brands—specifically, CoverGirl, Dior, L’Oréal, Maybelline, and Rimmel London, as well as Proactiv models.
The result? The faces could almost be the same person. Scary.
WTF? (Yet fascinating, right?!)
As far as the Proactiv models, Canva stated that they’re “Fresh-faced, young, and attractive by most nationally collective standards, these models also appeal to those looking for an improvement in personal appearance.”
If you want to get even more weirded out (yet intrigued), look at Canva’s site and check out their other composites, featuring models’ faces from other industries: car insurance, clothing, electronics, food and beverage, and retail. Soooo interesting, the similarities among them. Here are a couple more.
From Car Insurance (like State Farm and Allstate, for example)…
To The Clothing Industry (like Calvin Klein and Nike)…
My question is—why can’t more companies be like Dove ®, with their Dove Campaign for Real Beauty? You may remember that they used regular people for that campaign, and it was a huge success. Big ups, Dove.
But until more companies do campaigns featuring people with a greater variety of looks, we’ll continue to see the same—well, practically the same—faces from one billboard to the next. What happened to variety being the spice of life? (Not to mention being more representative of the vast array of IRL people out there?!)
The Internet is Literally Distorting Our Image of Beauty
