Naturally, the hashtag is in English: #bodypositive.
As of this writing, he has been mentioned over 2,303,000 times on Instagram.
The phrase, which translates to “body positive,” is the name of a movement started in 1997 by two American women concerned about “suffocating social messages that keep people in a perpetual struggle with their bodies.
”
and who now lead seminars on the issue.
Via the Internet, their manifesto has spread around the world, particularly in recent months.
Sales of slimming creams are in decline
On social networks, it is about loving your curves and showing them, regardless of your origins, whether you are round, hairy, injured or old.
Many women take the opportunity to tell their sometimes difficult journey towards self-love.
In France, where 25.3% of French women are overweight and 15.6% are obese, according to a study of the weekly epidemiological bulletin carried out at the end of 2016, the phenomenon resonates and is gradually spreading.
In this context, sales of slimming creams are in decline.
Should there be a link?
“The latter remain an important segment among body care,
answers Fiona Merveille, marketing manager at Nivea.
They represent 20% of the market, but for several years, and especially in 2016, this sector has fallen sharply: -30% in 2016 compared to 2015." The expert attributes this
drop to the crisis: French women are choosing to buy a necessary product, often hydrating, rather than a much more expensive slimming cream.
But we must also undoubtedly see the beginning of a change in mentalities.
In luxury as in mass distribution and niche brands, we no longer approach the subject in the same way: first, the era of slimming at all costs is over.
Then, consumers no longer believe in lost centimeters: they want to be accompanied towards self-acceptance and well-being.
“The trend is definitely 'being yourself', even in traditionally sophisticated countries like France and Italy.
Beauty brands can no longer content themselves with selling dreams and are inscribing their routines in the reality of customers,”
emphasizes Armine Karagorian, Sales Director at Ren.
The English label, which promises to reconcile body and mind, will market next May an anti-fatigue line (shower gel, scrub
(3)
, moisturizing milk), enriched with magnesium.
“We see this evolution both in the formulas and the communication: thus, Sephora US asked us, to go to the end of the process, for advertising images without retouching.
What we accepted!
»
A healthy mind in an ordinary body
This revolution, Dove initiated it already thirteen years ago through its advertising campaign in favor of body esteem featuring unknown women, with their shapes and their defects.
Cécile Bernini, marketing director of the brand, observes a shift in the entire industry towards more benevolence.
“In 2004, we only had ten non-model women in commercials.
They are a thousand today
, she observes.
At Dove, we no longer produce slimming creams but have launched a range intended for tonicity and firmness.
»
The shift in formulas towards
wellness
, detox, energy or skin texture probably also conceal a lack of major innovation in the field - caffeine is still and always used to break up fat molecules.
While Nike has just unveiled its Plus Size textile collection for curvy and sporty women, that disciplines advocating self-transcendence have never had so much success (Dynamo cycling, Taryn Toomey's cathartic workouts, etc.), cosmetics in turn bounces back on sport.
The make-up sector has been the quickest to adapt: the American brand Sweat ("sweat") has launched products
"that move with you",
equipped with sun protection and an all-weather outfit;
Tarte, another US label, named its skincare line Athleisure in reference to these chic and desirable sportswear that are a hit across the Atlantic.
In France, Biotherm is one of the first to play in this field:
"Sport has become a
lifestyle
, today the women who get into it seek first to gain mental and physical well-being before losing calories"
, confirms Leslie Breau, international marketing director.
This season, the brand of the L'Oréal group, usually positioned on slimming, is launching post-exercise products instead: mousse to cleanse the skin, rehydrating milk and gel with a fresh effect, Skin Fitness (2
)
.
Lots of marketing, but also compositions made with dermatologists to counter the consequences on the skin of frequent showers, natural friction or, outdoors, exposure to pollution and bad weather for those who train regularly.
According to the international research firm Mintel, 36% of French people would be willing to buy cosmetics that adapt to body temperature, and 46% of Spaniards are interested in a perfume that would encourage them to exercise more. intensely.
