Picture your favourite look. The lip that makes you stand a little taller. The brows you finally nailed. The hair colour you were nervous about, until you weren’t.
Beauty, at its best, is a way of saying this is me.
Now picture the other side of it: the look, the comment, the quiet exclusion. The moment someone made you feel like your face, your body or your style was a problem to be solved.
If that second picture feels familiar, you’re in very large company.
7 in 10
This World Mental Health Day, Sephora is launching Project Hearts Not Hate, its first-ever global corporate cause dedicated to tackling appearance-based hate. To open the conversation, Sephora commissioned Ipsos to ask 20,001 adults across 10 countries what’s really going on.
- 7 in 10 adults have been judged or discriminated against because of their appearance
- Among 18-24-year-olds, that jumps to 85%
- Of those affected, 76% have shrunk their lives because of it, avoiding people, places, social events, or the feeling of being looked at
Read that last one again. People are skipping the party, avoiding the room, changing how they act. That’s what being judged costs.
And while we love to blame the internet (82% say social media has made it worse), almost 90% of appearance-based judgement happens offline. It’s the school corridor, the office, the friend group, the family dinner.
Closer to Home
In Australia, the picture is just as pointed:
- 67% say appearance-based negative treatment is widespread
- 54% have watched someone be judged, bullied or excluded because of how they looked
- 41% say body type, weight or size is a leading driver
The Gap Nobody Talks About
Here’s the stat that stopped us: 81% agree that people often don’t know what to do when they see it happening.
We notice. We care. And we freeze anyway.
So this isn’t really a story about people being unkind (though some are). It’s about a skills gap, and anyone can learn to close it.
Turning Caring Into Doing
Sephora’s approach goes beyond a campaign hashtag:
Backing Bully Zero. In Australia, Sephora is supporting the not-for-profit’s practical resources that help people recognise, respond to and take action against appearance-based bullying.
Teaching people to step in. Globally, Sephora has partnered with Right To Be to build the H.E.A.R.T.S. training, a method to help Sephora teams and local communities understand appearance-based hate, intervene, and support the person on the receiving end. Rollout begins in 2027.
Putting money behind it. On 9th and 10th October, Sephora will donate $1.50 AUD for every Sephora Collection product sold to Bully Zero and other local non-profits supporting the communities most affected.
Is It Fair to Ask Beauty to Fix This?
Three-quarters of survey respondents think beauty brands carry a specific responsibility. Honestly? Fair. This industry has spent decades telling us what “beautiful” looks like. It makes sense that it should help widen the answer.
Your Turn
You don’t need a campaign budget to shift a culture. Start small:
- Notice the quiet moments. The “joke” about someone’s body. The eye-roll at an outfit. Be the person who doesn’t laugh.
- Check in with the target. Sometimes a simple “you okay?” afterwards is the bravest thing in the room.
- Edit your compliments. Praise the spark, the style, the them, not just the shape or size.
- Make your next beauty buy count. If a restock is on the list, Sephora Collection purchases on 9th and 10th October put $1.50 per product towards the cause.
Because the best thing makeup ever did was help us feel more like ourselves. Nobody should be made to feel less than for it.
