CVS Pharmacy promises to stop airbrushing its beauty images

CVS Pharmacy, the largest pharmacy chain in the US, has announced its commitment to stop retouching its beauty images in an effort to combat unrealistic body ideals. The retail giant will be introducing a “CVS Beauty Mark,” a watermark that will demonstrate the images have not been materially altered. The pharmacy chain defines materially altered as “changing or enhancing a person’s shape, size proportion, skin or eye colour, wrinkles or any other individual characteristics”.

In CVS’ press release, the president of the pharmacy division, Helena Foulkes, states: “as a woman, mother and president of a retail business, I realise we have a responsibility to think about the messages we send to the customers we reach each day. The connection between the propagation of unrealistic body images and negative health effects, especially in girls and young men, has been established.” CVS has been supported by their beauty brand partners, which have shown an enthusiastic readiness to help redefine industry standards around this important issue.

This change follows a series of adjustments CVS Health has implemented to better ensure the health of their customers. These include ending the sale of tobacco products, introducing healthier food options throughout CVS Pharmacy stores and removing certain chemicals from 600 beauty products by 2019.