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This Quebec Ad Campaign Is Aiming To Change The Face Of Beauty

This Quebec Ad Is Changing The Face Of Beauty
Courtoisie

"Tournons la page" (turn the page) is the first Quebec advertising campaign that is looking to change beauty ideals. Created, designed, and implemented by IMAGO agency in the Prix IMAGE/in 2015 for the organization EquiLibre, it is bound to cause a stir.

A Long-Term Project

Carl Gagnon had a vision since he became a member of the working committee of the Quebec Charter for Healthy and Diverse Body Images. He finally brought it to life as part of the 5th anniversary of the IMAGE/in awards. Imago presents us with a surprising campaign that will touch all generations to come in the pursuit of an aesthetic that influences our society, while being careful not to stigmatize in the process. Everything is done with an intimate and truthful approach which everyone can interpret in their own way, with the aim of demonstrating the pressure and influence that media and advertising have on individuals.

#TourneLaPage On A Single Beauty Type

"I have two daughters aged 12 and 14 years old, and for the longest time, I've asked myself questions about the models they've been presented," Gagnon tells us. "This campaign is intended for everyone. For children and adolescents too, through social media, they already have this awareness that beauty has a thousand faces. To them, a unique beauty type will not exist. In contrast, for the 30, 40 ... 50-year-old and over, it's just the opposite. We grew up in a society in which beauty had a single look. We would like to have the fountain of youth, and we do not understand why our body is less muscular, less toned with age. We are surprised that a particular actress' belly is less this or that, after bearing two children, and that another star had too much plastic surgery. But those types that we've been bombarded with for decades have finally caught up with us ... "

One Campaign, Four Photos

"It wasn't a question of stigmatizing young people or weight, but to talk to everyone. It's a campaign that has several faces to talk about multiple versions of beauty," explains Carl Gagnon.

Still A Long Way To Go

"There's still a long way to go before we see body diversity as an integral part of the creative thinking in advertising. It's true that we're presently living the effects of the pendulum's feedback. These days, it's becoming more and more common to find diverse and representative profiles of the 'real world' in advertisements. The effect of social media and the magnification of the individual, in our opinion, have greatly influenced this dose of realism, this mirror of our society: that everyone can be beautiful as they are," Carl Gagnon, president of the agency explained to us.

An Educational Kit And Competition

In addition to the online and print advertising campaign, an educational outreach kit is also available to schools and organizations. (www.equilibre.ca/prix2015).

There's also a video contest with celebrities Marie-Claude Savard (spokesperson), Saskia Thuot, Nicolas Ouellet, Mirianne Brûlé and Benoit Gagnon presenting the 2015 finalists.

Originally posted on The Huffington Post Québec.

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