Avon UK Leads the Beauty Industry With Its Continued Commitment

Avon UK has continued its commitment to champion inclusive beauty by launching bespoke training for its Representatives around visible differences.

After research revealed over half of people (54%) say they feel regularly ignored by brands*, the beauty company proudly joined charity Changing Faces’ Pledge To Be Seen campaign in 2019 to represent more people with visible differences across its beauty campaigns.

Now, to celebrate the third year of the partnership and recognising that a quarter of people (26%) reported bad customer service because of their visible difference, Avon’s UK Representatives will receive specialist training. This will cover how to make shopping for beauty – online and offline - as inclusive as possible for people with a scar, mark or condition that makes them look different.

Hosted on the Avon Connect training platform, the exclusive training seeks to significantly improve the experience of shopping for beauty by having a personalised consultation with an Avon Representative who is educated about visible differences, language to use and addressing specific beauty needs.

The interactive module has been developed in partnership with Changing Faces and features the first-hand experiences of some of its Ambassadors and expert advice from the Changing Faces team and Avon Representative and Make Up Artist Diane Flanagan.

Director of Purpose for Western Europe, Kate Donovan said; “For 135 years, we’ve been championing women and beauty for all. We are proud to be the first beauty brand to recognise people with visible differences in our campaigns and have led the way since 2019 with other beauty brands now following in our footsteps. Now, it’s about taking our Pledge To Be Seen commitment to the next level and educating our passionate community or Representatives to make shopping for beauty a personalised, inclusive and bespoke experience for all.”

Changing Faces Ambassador and burns survivor Catrin Pugh said: “For people with a visible difference, the beauty counter can be an intimidating place to go, because most brands champion traditional beauty ideals. I love makeup and fashion, but the experiences I had following my accident made me want to hide away. Through featuring in Avon's campaign, and by taking part in this training, I want more people to hear the message that it’s ok to be different, and that true beauty is about being proud to be yourself.”

The launch of the training coincides with the start of Face Equality Week (17 - 23 May); a time to celebrate the visible difference community, challenge people’s perceptions and raise awareness about the prejudice experienced by too many people with visible differences.

Susan Ross, Head of Education and Learning, Changing Faces said: “It’s great to celebrate the next stage in our Pledge To Be Seen partnership with Avon by rolling out this new training for their Representatives.

“Using the lived-experience of people with a visible difference and their interactions with the beauty industry, both good and bad, the training gives advice on a range of topics. From best practice for applying makeup, to how best to support a customer and the appropriate language to use the training will give all Avon Representatives the confidence and knowledge to deliver an excellent service to all their clients.”

To find out more about Avon’s Pledge To Be Seen commitment go to avon.uk.com/pages/purpose. To learn about becoming an Avon Representative go avon.uk.com/become-an-avon-rep. Find out more about Changing Faces and Face Equality Week at changingfaces.org.uk

* My Visible Difference online survey carried out by ComRes for Changing Faces of 1,037 people with a mark, scar or condition that makes them look different between 7th and 16th March 2019. Data were weighted to be representative of UK adults by age, gender, region and socio-economic grade. This weighting scheme was sourced from a nationally representative public omnibus survey run between the 22nd and 24th March 2019. Full data tables can be found at www.comresglobal.com in the ‘published polls’ section.