The beauty industry has traditionally been one of the worst offenders for embellishing reality and selling women idealised and restrictive forms of perfection, underpinned by extreme airbrushing and dubious claims. However, recently, the big trend in beauty has been for hyper realness, with diverse models, bold statements of ’no-airbushing’ and simplified and playful product packaging. One of the main drivers for this is ‘perfection fatigue’, wherein consumers are so accustomed to seeing the conventionally ‘fake’ and perfectly polished beauty ads that the primary response is simply indifference.

On today’s episode, I will be speaking with Laura Johnson, co-founder of Zebedee, a specialist talent agency created to increase the representation of people who have until now been excluded in the media. On this episode, Laura will share why perfection fatigue matters and how companies can adopt a more inclusive and diverse approach to advertising.