Beauty can be many things. But one thing it should never be, is a competition.
“Beauty is #NoCompetition” has sparked a global conversation about toxic competitions in beauty.
As the world witnesses, the beauty of competition at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, luxury skincare brand SK-II has teamed up with top Olympic athletes to declare #NOCOMPETITION, in a stand to take the competition out of beauty.
Since its launch at The 2020 MAKERS Conference, Beauty is #NOCOMPETITION has sparked a global conversation about toxic competitions in beauty, becoming a rallying cry for women to call out these toxic competitions and define what beauty means to them. Because pressure should never dictate our choices and how we look, act and feel.
SK-II Studio VS Series
“VS”—an SK-II STUDIO Animated Series is a collection of six animated films based on the real-life experiences of six Olympic athletes—Simone Biles, the world’s most decorated gymnast, LiuXiang, world-record swimmer, Ishikawa Kasumi, table tennis player and two-time Olympic medalist, Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo, badminton duo and Olympic gold medalists, Mahina Maeda, surfer and Hinotori Nippon, the Japan Volleyball team, battling toxic competitions in beauty.
Each film within the “VS” Series by SK-II STUDIO explores a different facet of toxic competition in beauty in society today that dictate how beauty should look, act and feel: Trolls. Pressure. Image Obsession. Rules. Limitations. Machine-Like Mindsets. Brought to life in the form of a “strange beast” or “kaiju” in Japanese, each “kaiju” sheds light on the inner demon each athlete must defeat to define what beauty means to them.
Teasing the launch of the “VS” Series in Times Square, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles transforms into a larger than life digital avatar from her film and takes down her “kaiju” – a two hundred foot tall “Beauty Troll King” made up of actual comments and tweets from beauty trolls about how she looked or behaved in the course of her gymnastics career. The epic battle, symbolizing Biles’ fight against competing beauty standards and beauty trolls, spanned across forty-one digital billboards in Times Square and teased scenes from Biles’ film within the series. It also featured the film’s theme song “Take A Look” from singer-songwriter John Legend.
“I am sharing my story so that young women and girls who have experienced beauty trolling know that they are not alone in their fight against the trolls and toxic beauty standards,” shared Simone Biles, Olympic Gymnast. “It really means a lot to me to share the important message that we define what beauty means to us. No one should tell us what beauty should or should not look, act or feel like.”
Biles also joined SK-II in visiting the Lower Eastside Girls Club to share her perspective on beauty standards with the young women. The conversations shed light on the toxic culture of beauty shaming and how the issue of beauty trolling starts as early as high school.
