On Tuesday, Ulta Beauty unveiled an initiative to better reflect the country’s diversity with the products it sells in stores and faces it in advertising campaigns.
The beauty retailer is committed to doubling the brands owned by Black in its range by the end of 2021 and to intensify the training of employees to make the stores more welcoming for all customers. The company will invest more than $ 25 million for the initiative.
She also turned to Tracee Ellis Ross, actress and CEO and founder of the hair care brand Pattern Beauty, as an advisor for its diversity and inclusion, to help advise and hold the company accountable.
Over the past year, many companies have been confronted with the fact that their business practices – including hiring, advertising and choosing display products – are strengthening or combating systemic racism. The protests killed by George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter led to a wave of corporate commitments to do more to address racial inequities.
A growing number of large retailers have promised to step up their philanthropy and recruitment. and some, including Macy’s and Gap, have signed up to the 15 percent pledge to keep black goods on store shelves commensurate with the country’s black population.
Ulta Beauty recently launched an advertising campaign featuring and celebrating black women.
Source: Ulta Beauty
Ulta CEO Mary Dillon said the beauty industry, in particular, “should be a leader.” She said it plays a strong role in shaping what society sees as beautiful and desirable. In addition, she said, more than 50 percent of children born in the United States are non-Caucasian – a dynamic that will shape tomorrow’s customers and determine which brands remain relevant.
“It’s not just an opportunity, it’s an obligation we all have to celebrate diversity – if we look at our advertising campaigns, if we look at the photo in [hair] If you look at how we prepare our salon partners to work with every type of hair, “she said. Ulta business.
Diversity and inclusion efforts have become a business imperative rather than a gesture of goodwill, as buyers pay more attention to corporate values such as sustainability and diversity and vote with their money. That’s something Dillon said he saw up close as president of the Association of Retail Industry Leaders.
“Consumers now own businesses to a higher standard and they should,” Dillon said.
Ulta will invest approximately $ 20 million in media investments on multicultural platforms aimed at reaching black and Hispanic communities, such as TV commercials with black women. It will spend more than $ 4 million to grow the market and fuel its black-owned brands and about $ 2 million for mandatory quarterly training of store employees to combat unconscious prejudice.
Ulta is also looking to expand staff diversity through recruitment efforts and the creation of a diverse leadership program to provide executive mentoring to more than 30 employees who show the potential to become company leaders.
Ulta beauty industry partner Sephora, owned by LVMH, announced a similar plan in mid-January to make its stores more inclusive. Among the changes, he said, would double the number of blacks and reduce the presence of third-party security. He also signed the 15 percent pledge.