Building on the the phenomenal success of its #INeverExpire campaign in Asia, which has received more than 100 million views from around the world since its launch last year, SK-II has followed up with a second instalment in the US.
The initial campaign, ‘The Expiry Date’, features three women, each branded with an ‘expiration date’, changing their destinies by tackling age-related pressure.
According to SK-II, the film, which showcases “the unspoken timelines and expiry date society places on women”, sparked a Pan-Asian discussion around age-related pressures.
The skincare company is now extending the #INeverExpire campaign with a “series of empowering videos” featuring five dynamic American women to introduce ‘‘The Expiry Date’ to a new audience.
The women in the videos – actress Chloe Bennet; journalist and former editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue, Elaine Welteroth; fashion influencer and blogger Aimee Song; DJ and producer Lauren Abedini; and GirlBoss CEO and founder Sophia Amoruso – reflect on the themes explored in The Expiry Date and “share their personal experiences” of age-related pressures in the US.
The Japanese skincare company says the #INeverExpire initiative inspires women to liberate themselves from societal expectations around age and live their lives on their own terms.
“SK-II is shedding light on the fact that age-related pressure impacts women everywhere, with different nuances around the world.
“SK-II proudly encourages women to challenge the belief that destiny is set at birth, for both their skin and their lives, with its ongoing global #ChangeDestiny campaign [launched in 2015].
“For years, the platform has inspired and celebrated the changes that women create in their lives through stories that empower them to challenge conventional norms and create their own destinies.”
Prior to the launch of #INeverExpire last year, #ChangeDestiny was best known for its award-winning ‘Marriage Market Takeover’ video in 2016.
The four-minute-video features unmarried Chinese women discussing the pressure they feel from family and society to get married before they turn 25 or risk becoming a ‘leftover’ woman.
The women then visit their local ‘marriage market’ where they stand up to their parent’s pressure with their own version of marriage ads saying they want to be in control of their own destiny and don’t want to be pressured to marry someone just for the sake of it.
Although SK-II does not advertise its products during any of the thought-provoking videos it does, in supporting marketing material, say it has for the past 35 years “touched the lives of millions of women around the world by helping them to #ChangeDestiny through the miracle of crystal clear skin”.
Acquired by P&G in the 1990s, SK-II’s rise to international success began at a sake brewery in Japan “where scientists noticed the elderly workers had wrinkled faces, but extraordinarily soft and younger-looking hands”.
According to the company “a rigorous search of more than 350 kinds of yeast was conducted before SK-II’s researchers discovered the unique yeast strain from which Pitera (a clear liquid rich in vitamins, amino acids, minerals and organic acids that is one of the brand’s signature ingredients) is naturally derived.