The beauty industry historically tests products on animals to check they’re safe for humans. Today this is seen as inhumane and unnecessary when there are alternative cruelty-free testing methods available.

Garnier has been committed to a world against animal testing since 1989 and since March 2021, all Garnier products are officially approved by Cruelty Free International under the Leaping Bunny Program. For a mass, global brand, this is a huge undertaking. Garnier worked with CFI to check 3000 ingredients, 500+ suppliers and 100% of their products met CFI’s strict criteria. Yet nobody really knows about it. As this is a key purchase consideration for Gen Z (55% will only buy cruelty-free beauty and grooming products*) this is a problem.

To mark Garnier’s 2-year CFI anniversary, we were briefed to create an inspiring campaign to educate consumers about the benefits of using cruelty free products.

Idea: Rabbit Doppelgangers

We found a great US insight* that 7 in 10 Gen Z would rather have pets than children.

Riffing off the idea that pets look like their owners, and leveraging this Gen Z animal obsession, the campaign stars rabbits, names them and pairs them with their human doppelganger, to create a series of simple but powerful portraits that celebrate this emotional connection. Rabbits felt like a fresh take on this theme instead of the predictability of cats and dogs.

The campaign was released to coincide with the 2-year anniversary of the official accreditation of Garnier by Cruelty Free International.

Today animal welfare is an important issue for everyone, including beauty consumers. In 2020 a global study found that 44% of consumers* look for a “cruelty-free” label when shopping for beauty and personal care products. This combined the Gen Z and Millennials obsession with animals indicates it a growing purchase consideration.

It was important for Garnier to build awareness that they are officially accredited by CFI (since two years) meaning that cruelty free beauty products can be available to everyone. However many beauty brands communicate on this topic, so we needed to find the Garnier way – accessible, inclusive, simple and positive.

An intimate emotional campaign: the main objective was to capture the emotion between the rabbit and the model, to feel the love and kindness in their connection.

To keep the focus on the emotional connection between the model and the rabbit, the setting, styling, and makeup was kept simple but elevated.

The style was intentionally referencing beauty editorial portraiture to set the campaign apart from the usual shocking or banal animal cruelty advertising.

Our CFI campaign has the potential to positively impact and engage Gen Z and consumers who care about animal welfare and ethical standards. With such strong imagery and a potentially surprising message (all Garnier products are CFI approved) it has real potential to change buying habits of new consumers: they may switch from brands that are not CFI approved to brands like Garnier as a result.