“We live in a culture that is constantly trying to tell us that if we’re not young…we don’t matter” Oprah Winfrey

L’Oréal Paris has always believed every woman is worth it, at every age. We pioneered skincare for mature skin and actively champion age-positivity: hiring Jane Fonda as brand ambassador aged 69, and Helen Mirren aged 69. (Now 81 and 73).

We were therefore dismayed to discover that, although 40% of women are over-50 – and are the fastest growing demographic – over-50s represent only 15% of women we see in the media. This sends a message to all women that growing older means becoming worthless and irrelevant. No wonder women in their 30s fear ageing more than any group.

As the world’s biggest beauty brand, we felt deeply uncomfortable that gender-based ageism has been accepted as an unspoken norm.

Every L’Oréal Paris customer will, hopefully, one day be over-50. We had a business imperative to better represent older women.

Ageism works against every single one of us. We had a cultural responsibility to prove that every woman, whatever her age, is worth it.

Representation is powerful. When you don’t see yourself reflected in culture, it can make you feel invisible, unvalued and irrelevant. This is the daily reality for British women over 50, who rarely see themselves represented in the media. Older newscasters are “warned about their wrinkles”, ageing actresses told to “hand over the baton” and 50+ women branded “too old to love” by notable French actors. These forces contribute to a toxic climate in which older women don’t feel seen, heard or valued.

The fashion industry is notorious for only paying lip-service to older women. In 2015, 80-year-old Joan Didion became the face of Céline, and other fashion brands followed suit. But this “Greynnaisance” was short lived: a tokenistic, seasonal trend.

L’Oréal Paris is one of very few mass market brands have consistently represented 50+ women. The beauty industry, like the fashion industry, has been depressingly slow to catch on to the truth that living is not just for the young.

We wanted to disrupt the gender-based ageism that pervades every aspect of our culture, by addressing the issue at source. We would win women’s hearts, not just their minds, by making a huge public commitment to them, whatever their age.

We persuaded Vogue to do something they’ve never done before. A special edition featuring everything you would expect of Vogue: 80 pages of aspirational fashion and inspiring editorial. Except the content was entirely made by, and dedicated to, women over 50.

L’Oréal put older women centre stage, in the arena where they were least visible.

Our age-positive belief would be captured in the line: ‘The Non-Issue’. A rallying cry to normalise ageing and reshape our perception of it.

Extensive global surveys revealed a perplexing truth: older women feel more confident and care less about ageing than young women, but they feel invisible. Journalist Mariella Frostrup summarised the paradox: “it has been like inhabiting two separate worlds: a tangible one filled with energetic, sexy, adventurous, hard-working and active friends in their 50s, and a wider society where neither myself nor my contemporaries seem to exist at all”.

When older women disappear from our media, it sends a message to all women that growing older means becoming irrelevant. Our research showed it was also actually women in their 30s who feared ageing most.

We would illuminate our culture’s skewed attitude to ageing by celebrating the achievements, beauty and style of women over-50. By representing women over-50, we aimed to resonate with women of every age.

Everything within ‘The Non-Issue’ challenged stereotypes and positively shaped our perception of age. Fashion and tech, life careers to new adventures. From beauty tips to advice about menopause. And every piece of advertising within the magazine normalised aging.

12 shoots; 24 candid interviews; 47 remarkable women; 111 curated photographs; 128 engaging articles. Beyond articles from L’Oréal Paris’ iconic ambassadors Jane Fonda, Helen Mirren and Isabelle Adjani, ‘The Non-Issue’ celebrated 50-plus women from all walks of life.

In April 2019, 250,000 copies were distributed to newsstands and subscribers. Getting the message into the hands, minds and hearts of women across the globe. Facebook-enabled AR codes revealed exclusive interviews that not only gave older women a face in fashion but a voice too.

‘The Non-Issue’ received more coverage than Vogue’s most successful September issue starring Rihanna (31), and threw gender-based ageism into the spotlight.

Its message proved impossible to ignore:

On social, ‘The Non-Issue’s’ cover was x3 more visible than the official May cover, starring Kate Moss.

Vogue attracted 40,000+ new readers in just two weeks.

With no paid media, it organically reached 3.9M people offline and 19M online.

Inspired coverage worldwide from: The Independent, Mail Online, Refinery29, The Daily Telegraph, Good Morning America, E! News, Fox News, Pravda Slovakia, 20 Minutes France, Entertainment Tonight Canada, NLCafé Hungary, Documento Greece, Universa Brazil, News Australia.

The overarching objective was long-term brand building for L’Oréal. While commercial benefits of brand-building take time to show, there’s already overwhelmingly positive brand response: 90% of L’Oréal Paris social mentions during circulation were positive.

The clearest indication that attitudes are changing? Vogue’s choice of June cover-star: Madonna, aged 60.