ABOUT

SHADY BEAUTY - A Thumbstoppers production for World Vision

CRUELTY FREE DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN FREE FROM CHILD LABOUR

They may make you glow and shine, but behind the glitter of beauty and cosmetic products lies an ugly secret - child labour.

Research shows that there are six commonly used ingredients at risk of using child labour: palm oil, cocoa, vanilla, shea, mica, and copper.

Instead of going to school, many children help grow, harvest, mine, and transport these ingredients. They work in dangerous conditions, facing risks of injury, heatstroke, disease, and even death, often for as little as $2 a day.

While there is an increase in consumers seeking out natural and organic cosmetics, many are unaware that terms like ‘cruelty free’ don’t necessarily mean that a brand’s supply chain is free from human rights abuses such as child labour. The cosmetics sector is projected to grow from $532 billion in 2018 to $716 billion in 2025, but this growth must not come at the cost of a child's education, health, or life.

1 IN 2 BEAUTY CUSTOMERS DON’T KNOW WHAT'S IN THEIR MAKE-UP BAG…

According to industry reports by World Vision, Fair Trade International, and the International Trade Organization (ITO), more than 50% of beauty customers don’t know how the ingredients in their favourite products are potentially connected to child labour supply chains.

The UK beauty industry is projected to reach $16.8 billion by the end of 2024 and shows no signs of slowing down, growing at a rate of $385 million (2.29%) every single year.

STOPPING THUMBS, WINNING HEARTS, AND CHANGING MINDS

Cluttered feeds, fast news, shattered attention spans, and compassion fatigue make it harder than ever for charities to interrupt and win attention.

World Vision challenged Thumbstoppers to deliver a creative concept that would land their critical message on child labour to a Gen-Z audience with a highly fragmented attention span in a highly competitive feed.
Mediums: Digital video content for social, Influencer seeding, Guerrilla Outdoor

THE CREATIVE STRATEGY

Beauty fans, as a demographic, have an above-average view-through rate because the audience will stick around to see a completed look. Therefore, if we could stand out in the feed and win their attention, we knew we could educate them.

THE CONCEPT: INTRODUCING SHADY BEAUTY

A BOLD, NEW (and entirely FAKE) Cosmetics Brand imagined by Thumbstoppers

Shady Beauty is a fictional Gen-Z makeup brand specializing in stunning, shimmering cosmetics at unbeatable prices. Unlike existing brands, our fictional company proudly prioritizes product performance and affordability over the welfare of the child labor in its supply chain.

EXECUTION:

OUR FAKE SHADY RANGE AND PRODUCT VIDEO
We rendered an entire product range from scratch and set about creating Shady Beauty's vibrant, over-the-top branding and bombastic tone to perfectly capture the Gen-Z aesthetic..

We introduced a darker, Black Mirror-inspired twist which is woven into the creative through glitching dark imagery and clever ad copy. The footage feels curious, dark and uneasy conveying the truth, underneath the glamour.

STEP 1: A FAKE INSTAGRAM COMMUNITY TO PROVE THE POWER OF AUTHORITY

An unscrupulous company like Shady Beauty would never play by the rules.
So neither did we...

We bought approximately 13,000 of the cheapest lowest quality FAKE followers we could to prove how dangerously easy it could be to build 'fake authority' with beauty consumers.

STEP 2: A FAKE CREATIVE FLAGSHIP VIDEO (WITH A REAL MESSAGE)

We used stock, AI and 3D modelling to create an unsettling dystopian style video with a real message to stop the thumb and outrage the audience.

(See flagship video on creative feed to right)

STEP 3. WE RAN A REAL AD CAMPAIGN WITH 'FAKE' AUTHORITY TO LAND AND IMPORTANT MESSAGE

Then, we ran our fully AUTHENTIC paid campaign from this account to ensure that new beauty fans would not suspect a thing with our World Vision rug pull only being revealed at the end.

We filled our 'Shady' feed with suspicious posts with suspect copy and bold bright colours with over 5000 REAL beauty fans following our fake page in 7 days!

STEP 4: A SHADY GUERRILLA TROLLING CAMPAIGN

World Visions official beauty influencer ambassadors shared links to our fake instagram page informing their followers of their suspicions about our authenticity.

Thumbstoppers community managers took to the comments under the Shady Beauty identity and ruthlessly trolled their audience urging them not to ask too many questions about the Shady ingredients...

STEP 5: GUERRILLA FLY POSTING

We hired a guerrilla fly posting company to cover Shoreditch and central London with fake shady beauty posters to build authority with an estimated footfall of 3 Million over 14 days.

Through targeted digital video placement, billboard, social and guerrilla poster placements all over London, our audience is challenged to look twice and think again about the true source of the contents of their makeup bag.

AVERAGE CUMULATIVE PERFORMANCE

REACH
TARGET: 500,000 / ACHIEVED: 684,902

REACTIONS
TARGET: 5000 / ACHIEVED: 8,076

NEW (REAL) FOLLOWERS FOR FAKE BRAND PROVING THE INFLUENCE WE SOUGHT TO CHANGE
TARGET: EST. 1000 / ACHIEVED: 5000+

COMPLETED VIEWS OF OUR 2 MINUTE VIDEO (PAID AND ORGANIC)
TARGET: 500K COMPLETED VIEWS / ACHIEVED: 1.2 MILLION

THROUGH PLAYS
TARGET: 10% / ACHIEVED: 40%
NOTE: Our video is over 1 minute long.

LONDON GUERILLA FLYPOSTING FOOTFALL (14 DAYS)
TARGET: NA / ACHIEVED: Est. 2.5-3M across the city

NOTES / REFS

Our fake (And now defunct) Shady Beauty instagram page:

SEARCH: Instagram - ohsoshadybeauty

FAKE AUTHORITY BROUGHT REAL FOLLOWERS

Circa 13,000 FAKE followers attracted 5,000 REAL followers at time of campaign.

(Note - The true campaign intention was publicised / revealed through channels and influencer partners who helped land the rug-pull)

ROI HALO:
Circa 8% uplift in donations during engagement campaign live period.

NOTE: We were targeted on reach and true engagement only we were not responsible for converting bottom of funnel traffic.