Can I get a woot woot!

Madison Reed, the prestige hair color brand based in San Francisco, announced this week that it’s advancing the movement toward authenticity in advertising by pledging to always use unaltered, raw photography. In its images, nothing will be adjusted. Hair color will be shown “as is.” These untouched, raw photos will be easily identified by a Madison Reed “Real Mark.” Web pages and packaging showing shades of each color will continue to be digitally altered so customers have clear expectations of the end result.

“Recently, we had a photo shoot with six amazing women, some of whom are over the age of 50,” said Heidi Dorosin, Madison Reed’s chief marketing officer. “When we received the digital files, we thought, ‘Why alter these photos?’ Yes, these women have wrinkles. Yes, they have smile lines. But these are all qualities that made the women even more beautiful to us.”

Madison Reed joins other companies that have made similar pledges. Most recently, for example, CVS Health pledged that it will ban photo manipulation in its store-brand makeup marketing, store aisle displays and social media posts by April 2020. CVS Health will introduce the “CVS Beauty Mark,” a watermark that will be used to highlight imagery that hasn’t been materially altered. The CVS Beauty Mark will start to appear on CVS Pharmacy-produced beauty imagery in 2018, with the goal of all images in the beauty sections of CVS stores reflecting transparency by the end of 2020.

Madison Reed is going a step further. “Many brands have vowed to not ‘materially alter’ the appearance of women in their imagery, but that leaves room for retouching,” the company said in its release. “Madison Reed’s promise goes a step further. Going forward, there will be zero alteration of all advertising photography.”

From its inception in 2013, Madison Reed — founded by Amy Errett — has challenged the hair color status quo. Historically, women had two options: purchase a low-quality box from a drugstore or visit an expensive salon. Madison Reed created a third, radically new option: salon-quality hair color delivered to a woman’s home so she can do it herself in under an hour. Madison Reed also provides access to licensed hair colorists who are standing by to offer support and guidance via email, live chat, chatbot and phone.

In 2017, Madison Reed also tackled the notion that a salon visit has to be a lengthy, expensive experience. Now open in New York and San Francisco, Madison Reed Color Bars offer fast, inexpensive color services that can be booked online, much to the delight of busy women. The company plans to open more than 20 Color Bars nationwide by the end of 2019.

With the disruption of an entire industry well underway, Errett felt the time was right to challenge conventional advertising in ways no beauty brand has before. The company’s new mantra: confident is the new beautiful.

“Long ago I decided Madison Reed would never use seductive photography,” said Errett. “In fact, I named the company after my daughter to empower her to find her own path, with grace and without apology. So I’m thrilled by our decision to promise zero photo alteration in our advertising. This pushes our brand, and the cause, forward. We encourage other beauty companies to join the movement.”

What do you think about advancing the movement toward authenticity in advertising? Do you have any comments or feelings about it? If so, please post a comment below or drop me a line at mcampanelli@napco.com.