CVS launched a new initiative last year called Beauty Mark, in which the company ditched digitally altered photos for their own skincare and cosmetic products. They also began placing watermarks on the packaging to alert consumers that the models they see alongside those products are the real deal.
And now that Beauty Mark just got bigger.
Starting Thursday, the retailer is expanding the campaign to include most of the visuals on their beauty aisle — including many from the other major beauty brands they carry.
So if a customer is wondering if the model promoting a foundation really looks pore-free or if the one wearing mascara has lashes that actually look that long, all they have to do is look for the Beauty Mark symbol.
At least in most cases.
For now, approximately 70 percent of photos will be labeled as "digitally altered" or "beauty unaltered" — with the majority of those being the latter. But the goal is much bigger than that. By 2020, CVS hopes to have 100 percent of beauty products labeled.
According to Maly Bernstein, vice president for beauty and personal care at CVS, it wasn't hard to get brands like Covergirl, Neutrogena and Revlon on board.
"What was inspiring was that, because customers were already talking about their desire for authenticity and transparency, this was a movement that was happening," Bernstein told TODAY. "And CVS Health and our brand partners listened to our customers."
Actress Kerry Washington, who's the face of Neutrogena, applauded the move.
"I know what it's like to wake up and look at my own face on the cover of a magazine and say, 'Wow, somebody at the computer changed the shape of my face because they weren't happy with what I look like,'" she said.
She also welcomed the new direction and the fact that without deceptive digital editing, consumers can finally feel like they'll be able to trust in what they buy.
"It's really about saying we should stand behind the power and quality of our products to do what they do," the "Scandal" star added. "We don't need digital transformations to misrepresent our products ... we can just be out there in the world, celebrating our beauty, using the products to put our best face forward without the help of computers."
CVS has even contractually required their beauty influencers on social media to only share photos that haven't been altered or had filters applied to them so that what you see is really what you get.