CVS Will Stop Altering Beauty Images In Its Stores, Ads

WOONSOCKET, RI — CVS Pharmacy will begin telling customers when beauty images used in their stores, websites or on social media have been digitally altered and will do away with image altering in its own beauty marketing.

The company announced on Monday that it would first begin telling customers when images have not been materially altered by marking them with the "CVS Beauty Mark." The company also vowed to be transparent about any digitally altered beauty images by the end of 2020. In a statement, the company said materially altered is defined as changing or enhancing a person's shape, size, proportion, skin or eye color, wrinkles or any other individual characteristics.

The "CVS Beauty Mark" will begin to appear on CVS-produced beauty imagery this year. CVS aims to do away with beauty editing in its own material by April 2019, USA Today reported. The company has also set a goal of all images in the beauty sections of CVS stores to "reflect transparency" by the end of 2020, putting pressure on brands that sell their products at CVS to follow suit.

In an interview with USA Today, Helena Foulkes, President of CVS Pharmacy and Executive Vice President, CVS Health, said that if someone decided they still need to digitally modify a photograph, the company wants girls and women in their stores to know that.

"As a woman, mother and president of a retail business whose customers predominantly are women, I realize we have a responsibility to think about the messages we send to the customers we reach each day," Foulkes said in a statement. "The connection between the propagation of unrealistic body images and negative health effects, especially in girls and young women, has been established. As a purpose-led company, we strive to do our best to assure all of the messages we are sending to our customers reflect our purpose of helping people on their path to better health."

In her statement, Foulkes added that CVS had reached out to many of its beauty brand partners "to work together to ensure that the beauty aisle is a place that represents and celebrates the authenticity and diversity of the communities we serve."

Photo: A side by side comparison of a digitally altered photo and the original photo, via CVS