The Body Shop "Ruby"Year: 1997
The Concept: It would still be another seven years before Dove would release its massive "Real Beauty" campaign, so in many ways The Body Shop was ahead of its time. In 1997, the brand created Ruby, one of the first characters in advertising to represent "attainable ideals" for women.
Marina Galanti, responsible for The Body Shop's advertising and marketing at the time, told the New York Times, "The images in the barrage of advertising around you have very little to do with people riding the bus with you, sitting in the office with you, having dinner with you.... It's good to celebrate our points of difference. And Ruby does that."
The Impact: Ruby was accompanied by the following slogan: "There are three billion women who don't look like supermodels and only eight who do."
Body positivity was a new thing in beauty advertising, and in the late '90s, it was The Body Shop's way of differentiating itself. Though Ruby's image didn't become as iconic as Barbie's, it helped set a precedent for empowering campaigns to come.
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