Systemic racism and deep-rooted healthcare inequities in the U.S. lead to misdiagnosis and untreated conditions. This can be attributed to the lack of imagery available of conditions on Black and Brown skin. Research published by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that less than 6% of image-based search results show skin conditions on people of color. And when Black and Hispanic people don’t feel seen in search, they’re less likely to be seen by a dermatologist – leading to 25% higher mortality rates for life-threatening conditions like skin cancer. As the brand that exists to give everybody healthy skin, Vaseline® needed to double down on its purpose. We committed to raising awareness of the racially biased systems that impact algorithmic search, providing proper representation and access to equal care, and most of all, helping these communities be seen.

Vaseline® wanted to engage and serve its primary audience, Black and Hispanic people ages 25-44. To better understand this target’s pain points on their quest for skin treatment, we set out on a discovery journey leveraging social listening and search analytics to map out their entire journey from condition exploration to diagnosis. Through our research, we audited over 100 of our target’s most searched conditions on Google, as well as the percentage of results that were culturally relevant. We also discovered that our audience was looking to other sources (like personal acquaintances, discussion forums and beauty influencers) for advice and informal diagnosis to compensate for the limited resources in mainstream channels. This information defined the needs our platform had to meet. The strategic objective of See My Skin was to take the guess work out of our audience’s discovery by providing unbiased, culturally competent resources along the path to diagnosis.

In joining forces with VisualDx and HUED, Vaseline® developed an unparalleled search experience for people of color. Cataloguing the world’s most diverse medical image library was a true expert collaboration between a robust network of dermatologists, medical librarians, software engineers and imaging specialists. From inception to development, it took nearly three years to create. Now, See My Skin lives online as the only database designed to search conditions on skin of color and connect users directly to dermatologists for treatment. Through paid search and social, it continues to reach and serve Black and Brown communities nationwide. As part of a continued effort for greater representation, we built an upload tool allowing visitors to add an image of their diagnosed skin condition in real-time, to be vetted and added to the growing database.

The campaign launched on April 14, sparking a nationwide conversation about Vaseline® as the purveyor of skin health equity and encouraging underrepresented communities to proactively seek proper diagnosis and treatment for conditions that would’ve otherwise gone unseen. We garnered over 900 million impressions so far. Within the first two weeks, See My Skin organically earned visibility for more than 50 unique key words and generated over 6,000 visits. We helped people in the moment they we’re actively trying to self-diagnose, with 59% of organic views coming from users who were searching for a specific skin image or skin care related concern. Since launch, 48% of those who searched on the site were empowered to advocate for themselves and take action, representing an increase of 1,430% in people seeking dermatological care. Ultimately, proving that helping people feel seen was the best way to help them get seen.