Today we talk about inclusive brands and their iconic initiative to set new trends, heated debates, and also a lot of hope. With sustainability, the market and the consumers, claim the right to be represented, without distinctions.

One of the recent examples is the Disney choice to put on a screen Halle Bailey as the Mermaid for their next movie. On TikTok, Instagram and Twitter  it has spread a real trend that shows enthusiast Afroamerican girls, yelling and crying of joy, that exult “Is that Ariel? But she’s black! Ariel is like me.”

It’s undeniable that today brands are beginning a long path trough the road of respect, which opposes the atrocities of racism, homophobia and is clearing prejudices, taboos and overturning traditional canons through new creative and fresh proposals, respectful of others and the environment.

The inclusivity cases are reaching more and more sectors: make-up, fashion, digital, toys and so on.

For example, who didn’t play at least once with the iconic Barbie when a little girl? Everybody remembers her, not only because she was a faithful childhood friend, but also because some years ago, all the Barbies used to be the same. Thick and well-kept hair, perfect make-up, Victoria’s Secret, model body (but also models have changed today, you’ll see). Today it’s not like that anymore and the Barbie worlds has populated, becoming more different and multicultural.

Today we can find Barbies with hearing aids, from different nationalities, curvy, with vitiligo, or also Barbies inspired to great women that made history, like the Paralympic champion Bebe Vio, Frida Kahlo and Amelia Earheart. Thanks to this huge rush through diversity, the brand Barbie today is part of the Top 20 “Diversity Brand Index” classification, an indicator that in a customer-based perspective, has the purpose to measure and evaluate brands that are going to take part to the annual “Most Inclusive brand of the year” classification.

An interesting case in the make-up world is the Fenty Beauty case. Founded by Rihanna, Fenty is a marketing story that gave a chance of representation to many women, thanks to the “Beauty for All” line that offers more than 50 shades of foundation, to adapt to all the skin shades of all the women in every part of the planet, that until now were neglected from the make-up industry, and forced to mix more foundations to find their own perfect mix.

The willing of make-up brands to approach in a more inclusive way to their clients has developed also in the communication.

L’Oréal for example, has changed the concept of foundation as a tool to erase the defects, in fact it’s now seen as a tool to enhance beauty, without any distortion or disguise. As Vanity Fair says, “foundation is now living a cosmetic revolution” where diversity is the key. That’s a positive competition that has also triggered in other brands the desire to expand their product lines to become more part of this world that wants to convey a positive message.

In the television world we can find another example of inclusion talking about Rai, the Italian radio television that in 2021 has won the “Diversity Brand Index” thanks to its “Virtual Lis” platform that supports people affected by deafness and that produces content with sign language. It’s about a project made with the CRITS, the RAI’s Centre of Research and Technological Innovation and Sperimentation. It has the purpose to increase the offer of LIS contents through avatars, to break down information barriers and bring anyone closer.

After the harsh criticism received for its thin models, Victoria’s Secret decided to change route. In this case the inclusivity urge came from the consumer’s world, tired of seeing on the walkways just models living with, in most cases, wrong eating habits.

That’s why Victoria’s Secret in 2019 didn’t just rethought the walkways, but also its brand strategy. For example it welcomed a transgender model and a model affected by down syndrome.

The brand had big courage admitting the mistake of underrepresentation of some women, as you can see in an Instagram post of the 28th June 2022, with a celebratory video announcing “We’ve changed. We now know beauty was always yours to define” or another video saying “it’s no secret, we’ve made mistakes” followed by a description where the brand admits having contributed to the perpetuation of a toxic culture and harmful beauty standards.

Despite this positive experiences, not all the brands are moved by the same ideals, so in the big market we can see brands that are respectful and ethicals, and brand only on the wave of the simple politically correct, without having a real involvement and risking to lead to green washing and purpose washing behaviors.

We as ones, can’t wait to see the next inclusion initiative!