“We have been taught beauty wrong. It’s time to learn the truth”.

That is the message that the cosmetic firm The Ordinary sends in its new campaign, with which, once again, and following its brand philosophy, it seeks to warn consumers about, in its opinion, misleading advertising deployed by the beauty industry.

To this end, it has created, together with the creative agency Uncommon, a collective skincare routine with a dystopian character. In the piece, produced by Smuggler, dozens of people apply different treatments, products and techniques to their facial skin – each one more bizarre -, seeking the eternal youth that the sector has traditionally promised.

With a surreal and futuristic aesthetic, the campaign alludes to terms such as “poreless”, “wrinkle removal” or “fat freezing”, as examples of terminology that can be misleading or confusing and that has been designed to attract consumers to certain products.

“From empty promises to impossible standards and over-the-top ingredients – for too long, our industry has taught beauty wrong.“, they have commented from The Ordinary when sharing the campaign on their social channels. “So we made The Periodic Fable: a periodic table with zero science. We hope it helps create a better, more transparent industry, where everyone can distinguish fact from fiction and science from fairy tales.”.

Thus, the campaign presents The Periodic Fable (translatable as The Periodic Story), a periodic table with zero scientific basis, according to the brand, composed of 49 popular marketing terms. Collected in an interactive graphic, The Ordinary explains each of the concepts trying to shed light on them under an informative approach.

For example, regarding the “sulfate-free” concept, The Ordinary points out that sulfates help cleaning in an adequate volume. Thus, he points out that it is not about eliminating the ingredients, but about correctly managing the formulation.
Regarding “dermatologically recommended,” The Ordinary points out that a brand only requires the recommendation of a dermatologist to make this statement and remembers that the best products are those that are backed by scientific evidence.

Both the brand and the agency argue that the board is a powerful teaching tool with the potential to rewrite the industry’s falsehoods, using science to reframe the way beauty is understood. “Consumers have the right to know exactly what they are buying, but also which words and phrases are nothing more than marketing ploys.”, commented Amy Bi, Vice President of Brand at The Ordinary, according to Little Black Book.

With The Periodic Fable, The Ordinary continues to build its case for transparency in the beauty industry. Over the last few years it has developed it, at a communicative level, with impressive marketing campaigns and actions. Among the most recent, “The Truth Should Be Ordinary”, a compilation of scientific and technical reports with which it has sought to combat misinformation; or “The secret ingredient”, a staging of the increase in the price of products derived from the work of beauty brands with great influencers.

More info.: The Periodic Fable