In recent years, many fashion and cosmetics labels have been making a conscious effort to be more inclusive in their branding and advertising. River Island hired its first Downs Syndrome model to show that their clothing was for all children, several fitness outlets have been using plus sized promoters in order to make exercise accessible to everyone, and many brands have taken to including a wider range of gender and race diversity.
So, when one beauty blogger - 21-year-old Kadeeja Khan - was approached by L'Oréal with the opportunity to promote their new vegan hair dye range, she was ecstatic. Khan suffers from severe acne and is known by her fans for speaking openly and candidly on her skin issues, so she assumed that L'Oréal were aware of this.
However, a short while after receiving the initial invite from the cosmetics brand, Khan received a second email which said, "L’Oréal can't be involved with people with skin issues." Understandably, the young blogger felt completely humiliated.
"After I’d already got my hopes up I was completely let down and insulted by their reason for not wanting to work with me," said Khan, who has almost 130,000 followers on Instagram. "It just shows that L'Oréal only want to work with people with perfect skin, but that isn’t real."
Having struggled with skin problems for years, Khan took the rejection very personally (as anyone would), and felt that it was a far bigger insult than any horrible comment she'd ever received from various strangers who'd tried to taunt her in the past.
"I know internet trolls will say horrible things to me, but to have that confirmed by an international brand has made me feel like there isn’t any space for people like me online," she said.
"To think we're supposed to live in an advanced society that not only ACCEPTS of ALL walks of life but actually embraces people of all backgrounds, religions, ethnicities and disabilities. Shame on you L'Oréal."
This prompted the cosmetics brand to issue an apology to Khan, and explain their official stance on representation for people of all skin types.
"We deeply apologise for any upset caused, and have made direct contact with the individuals involved to clarify this unfortunate misunderstanding," they said.
"The photoshoot was designed to support a new hair colour launch and feature hairdressers and lifestyle bloggers. Unfortunately, a misunderstanding resulted in the agency casting bloggers with skin concerns for this shoot. This resulted in the wrong profile being cast, which was then poorly and insensitively communicated to the individuals concerned.
"We do not have regulations in place that restrict us from working with people with skin conditions. At L’Oréal we work with women and men with all skin types and celebrate beauty in all its diversity."
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Despite the humiliation (and the half-assed apology), Khan decided to use the experience as further encouragement to keep on doing what she does.
"That has given me fuel. Fuel to continue to show you that you're beautiful no matter what ANYONE says," she said. "That even if it’s someone so huge & big. It still means NOTHING. Never stop loving yourself for who you are & NEVER change."
