The Expiry Date
Global prestige skin care brand, SK-II launched its new campaign film, “The Expiry Date”, following last year’s “Marriage Market Takeover” campaign in China to communicate positive messages relating to ageing throughout Asia and the world.
Published on 21st June 2017, the film depicts the lives of three women from three different countries and focuses on societal pressures relating to ageing in Asia. These pressures typically come from family and friends, society’s opinions or the ‘need’ to be married before the age of 30.
Ageing pressures
“With “The Marriage Market Takeover”, we found that the pressure to get married before 25 and the fear of being labelled as “Leftover Women” after 27 was the single largest tension among single women in China,” announced Sandeep Seth, Brand Director, Global SK-II.
In Asia, just 20% of women state that they are comfortable with the idea of getting older, SK-II found in its recent study.
Over half of women in Asia asked also said they felt uncomfortable and offended by other people’s views on their status, particularly relating to personal aspects of their lives including their age and marital status.
In Korea, almost 72% of women announced they felt discomfort and scrutiny around the topic of ageing, with 62% and nearly 60% of Chinese and Japanese females, respectively, sharing this view.
International issue
“Age-related discrimination is a global issue that women have to face nowadays, but especially single women,” said Dr Sandy To, sociologist and author of China’s Leftover Women.
“The pressure becomes very real when she reaches mid 30s, 35 and up. At a certain age, when a woman is single and doesn’t have a family, she’s looked upon as an anomaly,” To went on to say.
Despite 7 out of 10 Asian females emphasising that these age-related pressures were internal, most of these surveyed actively want to open up and discuss these topics and any anxiety, which is often associated with thoughts about ageing.
“Overwhelming interest and response to this campaign from women all over the world led us to discover that age-related pressure was not just an issue concerning women in China alone, but indeed a universal one,” added Seth.
An open discussion: ending the taboo
“With “The Expiry Date” film, we made the proverbial expiry date many women feel into a real one to illustrate the growing internal and external age-related pressure women face,” highlighted Seth.
SK-II aims to continue to communicate its values and mission through the campaign by promoting ”the message that everyone should be able to feel proud of what they’ve achieved and who they are, regardless of age and gender and should not be constrained by artificial timelines and expiry date labels placed on them by society”.
Following the film, SK-II aims to facilitate a conversation around the stigma of age-related pressure by encouraging a regional social movement using the “#INeverExpire” to encourage women to discuss their thoughts and feelings on ageing.