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Beauty Brands Are Getting Customers Involved in Good Causes"As people band together to raise funds for victims of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, it is a reminder of how the world is interconnected, and how we depend on one another for help. Like many corporations, beauty brands are also mindful of how they are expected to contribute to society. From walkathons to creating Facebook communities and flash sales websites, brands such as Aveda, Dermalogica and L’Oreal are doing more than just donating money to their adopted charities through sales of products at their counters.
These days, beauty brands who aim to do good want customers to get involved too. Haircare brand Aveda held a 3km walkathon two weeks ago at the Marina Barrage to raise awareness of how women and children in underdeveloped countries have to walk about 5km daily to get clean water.
Says Mr Eugene Goh, general manager of Luxe Professional, which distributes Aveda in Singapore: ‘We wanted as many participants of all ages as possible to get a taste of the hardship that others experience and also to appreciate the accessibility we have in developed countries.’
The Walk For Water walkathon was attended by more than 1,500 participants. More than $3,000 was raised for the Singapore Environment Council through the sale of Walk For Water T-shirts, corporate donations and fees for hand and shoulder massages held at the event.
Of course, being closely involved in a social cause is also a strategic move, says Ms Jenny Costelloe, Singapore’s country director for CSR Asia, a social enterprise that works with businesses to improve their corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. ‘Beauty and fashion brands know their target customers – working women – and choose charities that appeal to their emotional psychology, such as female-linked causes like the plight of women and children in developing countries’, she says.
Some pioneering beauty companies that have long been involved with social causes include The Body Shop, which champions a range of initiatives including anti-animal testing, and the Estee Lauder Companies with its Breast Cancer Awareness month in October.
However, Ms Costelloe notes that being involved with a charity is just ‘a small part’ in CSR.
‘It is a starting point, which is better than nothing, but companies also need to have ethical practices such as minimizing negative impact on the environment and upholding labor rights,’ she says.
Helping communities in Singapore is Kiehl’s, which has tied up with home-grown singer-songwriter JJ Lin to create a $95 charity pack, which launches at all counters today. It contains the new Dermatologist Solutions Ultra Light Daily UV Defense SPF50 sunscreen, a tote bag designed by Lin (Picture 2) and his newest album, She Says. All proceeds will be donated to the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore.
L’Oreal Singapore, which owns brands such as Shu Uemura, Redken and Maybelline, launched Deals That Heal.
The website puts up a different product for sale at half its retail price every 48 hours. It will be up for at least a year. The website has raised about $15,000 so far. All proceeds go to the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped and the Lighthouse School, which provides special education to visually handicapped children.
Urban tells you how you can get involved in these projects.
DERMALOGICA
What: When you buy one of the five best-selling products that come in a specially marked Fite packaging, you can enter the code found on the sleeve on the website.
For every code redeemed, Dermalogica will donate US$1 (S$1.27) to the funding of a micro loan, which ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars and is used to help the poor start a business.
You can choose the world region and type of business you wish to support, and will be able to track the ongoing activities of the female entrepreneur, including the repayment of the loan.
Beneficiary: Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship (Fite), a partnership between Dermalogica and Kiva.org, a non-profit organisation that provides micro loans to female entrepreneurs around the world.
Target: To help 25,000 women around the world.
Amount raised to date: More than US$65,000, which have benefited 700 women around the world.
GIORGIO ARMANI PARFUMS
What: Through its Acqua For Life campaign, the brand will donate 100 liters of drinking water to needy children and their communities for every bottle of Acqua di Gio ($123) or Acqua di Gioia ($119, Picture 5) sold.
You can enter a code found on the perfume’s box on the campaign’s Facebook application to create your own community and invite friends to join the movement.
For every friend who joins, the brand will donate another 10 liters of water to the cause.
Beneficiary: Green Cross International, an international organization that works to address security, poverty and environmental degradation through local projects and policy-making.
The water donated through this campaign will be used in Ghana, where up to 40 per cent of the rural population does not have drinking water.
Target: To raise 40 million liters of water.
Amount raised to date: 15.8 million liters of water.
AVEDA
What: Buy Aveda’s Light The Way candle, a lavender-scented soya wax candle and all proceeds will go to the Global Greengrant Fund. The $25 candle is available at all salons and spas that stock Aveda products, including Shunji Matsuo at 05-01 The Heeren, Urban Hair at B1-02 Marina Bay Sands and Kelture at 05-07 Paragon.
Beneficiary: Global Greengrant Funds, which provides grants for community-based water projects in more than 40 countries, and the Singapore Environment Council (SEC), a non-government organization that promotes environmental causes.
Target: $15,000 in Singapore, US$4 million globally.
Amount raised to date: $3,000 for the SEC. No figures are available for Global Greengrant Funds.
L’OREAL SINGAPORE
What: Buy a product from L’Oreals’ Deals That Heal website and all proceeds will be donated to charity.
One new discounted beauty product from brands, including Lancome, Biotherm and Kerastase, is put up for sale every 48 hours until next March.
L’Oreal will also donate 20 cents for each of the first 10,000 ‘likes’ on its Deals That Heal Facebook page.
Beneficiary: Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped and the Lighthouse School, which provides special education to visually handicapped children.
Target: $100,000.
Amount raised to date: Since the site was launched in February, it has raised almost $12,000."
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Beauty Brands Are Getting Customers Involved in Good Causes
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