Cosmetics Advocacy Campaign: Regulated But Never Approved
In May of 2023, the Virginia Tech Professional and Technical Writing Awards Committee awarded me the PTW Award for Excellence in Public and Social Engagement for my advocacy campaign on toxic cosmetics in the United States.
This award recognizes “exemplary work that engages public concerns and has the potential to impact society positively. Such work could strive to increase access to information; enhance accessibility, sustainability, or community engagement; work toward support for marginalized and under-resourced communities; engage with concerns related to environmental justice; or other articulations of public and social impact.”
To learn more, see below for my synopsis, fact sheet, and advocacy paper.
As an everyday makeup user, I believe that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should enact stricter regulations to prevent the production of toxic cosmetics.
Audience
In this piece, I am targeting millennial women between the ages of 18-34. TABS Analytics’ second annual U.S. Cosmetics Study found this demographic to be the heaviest beauty product buyers, and each woman is defined as buying at least 10 different cosmetic products per year (“Millennial women, 2016). This audience is likely unaware of the harmful effects of the everyday products they use, as most labels cover the toxic ingredients they use. My goals are to inform them of the dangers surrounding harmful chemicals and toxins in these products, and to urge them to persuade the FDA to pay closer attention to these issues and take legal action.
My secondary audience is companies producing products with harmful chemicals in them. Most companies are not held accountable for their actions, in which they use toxic ingredients and do not face any sort of legal trouble. My goal is to pressure them into using safer ingredients and avoiding all PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances).
Publication
To be published in Women’s Health magazine.
Women’s Health is a lifestyle magazine centered on health, nutrition, and fitness, and is published an average of ten times a year in the United States. The magazine reaches over 1.5 million readers across the nation, most being women. This magazine is the perfect way to connect with my audiences because those reading this magazine are most likely between 18-34 years old and health conscious, as they clearly care about their health enough to read articles and editorials about it. Within this magazine, I would publish this informative yet entertaining spread about the tomfoolery of cosmetics, and pressure my audiences to not only advocate for change but be the change.