In March 2021, Tracey Roberts a hairdresser and volunteer for Age Cymru from Swansea, spotted the beautiful Angela Scanlon in an Olay advert. It got Tracy thinking – why isn’t there more women like and my best friends in these ads? Every day women like her. So, she decided to challenge the brand on this.

Olay responded by putting Tracey and her friends in this month’s Elle magazine and their latest social media campaign. The trio, Tracey and her two best pals Donna, an NHS worker, and Rosalba a fellow hairdresser, feature next to Angela Scanlon stating, ‘We have strong and glowing skin too!’, in response to the brand’s tagline for its Collagen Peptide24 collection.

Putting women that write to the brand into its advertising campaigns isn’t a usual response for the brand, but Olay recognised that Tracey is the embodiment of the Olay consumer. Brave and fearless to face anything. Olay believe that when you feel confident in the skin you are in, you can truly face anything that comes your way.

Tracey Roberts comments, “Age has not dampened our enthusiasm for life, as far as we are concerned ageing is an outdated concept. We are the true ambassadors of the #FaceAnything campaign”.

This move comes from the brand as it commits to zero retouching in all advertising as part of its Skin Promise. In a time where photo editing apps and filters are the norm, the Skin Promise aims to showcase real skin, on real women of all ages, showing that when you show real skin you can empower all women to feel confident and beautiful in the skin they are in.