Dive Brief:
- Direct-to-consumer razor brand Billie this week unveiled an Instagram campaign that rewrites classic fairy tales with a more inclusive spin, putting members of the LGBTQ community at the center of these traditional narratives, per details emailed to Marketing Dive. Throughout Pride Month, the brand plans to release four stories that play off the tales of Rapunzel, Snow White, Cinderella and The Little Mermaid and are illustrated by members of the LGBTQ community.
- The first rewritten tale, released on June 9, depicts Rapunzel in her tower-turned-penthouse with long armpit hair. She owns the space and is enjoying life not waiting for a savior to rescue her, particularly not a prince "because she's hella gay," the post reads. Other tales will show Cinderella choosing to wear a suit and a father accepting his child as transgender as the "happily ever after" typically at the end of classic fairy tales, according to details the brand shared.
- The effort builds on the razor brand's work to challenge tired ideas of womanhood and ease the pressures of expectations surrounding body hair.
Dive Insight:
Billie's fairy tale rewrites for Pride marks the latest work in the brand's continued mission to dismantle traditional notions around women's body hair. This campaign is one of the first since Billie directed its disruptive ethos into a broader message around championing the full spectrum of womankind.
The brand in March released a product-free film for International Women's Day that addressed limiting assumptions around the idea of "the perfect woman," as well as an interactive exercise to help people reshape their unconscious biases. That campaign, "Think of a Woman" formed the foundation of Billie's new mission as the company works to carve out a larger slice of the razor and personal care space.
This approach seems to be resonating, with Gillette's Venus brand recently taking a page from Billie's strategy by using nontraditional, quirky creative to normalize public hair. Venus in May released a song and animated video on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube to help portray more realistic depictions of women and their bodies to the grooming space.
Now, Billie is back for Pride continuing this message with a series of Instagram posts written and illustrated by members of the LGBTQ community.
"Fairy tales shape us from such an early age. We wanted to create impactful retellings that featured a wider representation of womankind, made people feel seen and included while also making them laugh," co-founder and CEO Georgina Gooley said in emailed comments.
In this post, Rapunzel owns a penthouse and is enjoying life not waiting for a savior.
Billie
The push aligns with Billie's broader mission to back all women and confront outdated norms, a consistent message from the brand that may help to prevent claims of woke-washing — or specifically rainbow-washing during Pride — that have plagued other brands running purpose-driven campaigns without producing real support or action. Billie is boosting representation of the LGBTQ community in its marketing by featuring fairy tale posts written and illustrated by LGBTQ individuals.
Since its 2017 launch, Billie has donated 1% of its revenue to support women's causes globally, per the details shared with Marketing Dive. In June, the revenue will go toward The Trevor Project, a national organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention resources to LGBTQ youth.
