Maybelline raises AANHPI representation with all Asian beauty campaign – and it is just the beginning

Maybelline New York is on a mission to reshape the future of beauty marketing with deeper representation-driven campaigns that drive both brand purpose and business growth.

The first move in the L’Oréal-owned make-up brand’s new evolution toward bolder and even more “culturally resonant storytelling” is its ‘Face the Difference’ campaign, which celebrates the broad spectrum of Asian Pacific beauty on a national scale.

It spotlights 40 changemakers from across the Asian Pacific diaspora – inspired by the 40 shades in the brand’s number-one face franchise, Fit Me – after discovering one in three Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) see little-to-no representation of themselves in advertising content, according to measurement firm Nielsen.

The impact of the campaign’s mission to spotlight the diversity that exists within the Asian community can already be felt just one month in, with Maybelline New York garnering 100% positive social sentiment and 1.4 billion-plus media impressions across paid, earned and owned channels.

Not to mention a more than 150% increase in Maybelline's AANHPI creator representation versus the prior four years (2021 to 2024 combined) and a “positive” uplift in sales of Fit Me. 

The campaign spotlighted AANHPI skin tones and stories at a scale never before seen by the brand or the wider beauty industry.  

“Too often, AANHPI are treated as a monolith – if they are seen at all,” Amy Whang, President of Maybelline New York, Garnier and essie USA, told Cosmetics Business. 

Denise Woodard in Maybelline New York's 'Face the Difference' campaign

“So, for Asian Pacific Heritage Month [in May], we set out to change that with a powerful visual statement with the largest Asian Pacific beauty campaign in history.  

“Maybelline is a brand that has been around for more than 100 years and is the number-one