At Kenvue, we’re committed to advancing community health and well-being through a culture of caring — including efforts to enrich and empower the Black community with innovative programs designed to make a positive and lasting social impact.
In honor of Black History Month, here’s a look at three creative, “care-forward” campaigns that demonstrate just a few of the ways Kenvue takes action to support the Black community.
Aveeno® brand’s ongoing #SkinVisibility campaign
Eczema is the second-most frequent skin disease affecting the Black community, but experts believe it’s consistently under-diagnosed due to a lack of representation in medical textbooks.
As a leader in skincare, Aveeno® has always recognized the important role it plays in helping to create a more representative industry. That’s why the brand offers a diverse range of solutions that meet the needs of every skin type.
As part of its ongoing commitment to help consumers find solutions for sensitive skin, Aveeno® launched its #SkinVisibility campaign on October 21, 2021, an initiative committed to addressing the under-diagnosis, care and treatment of eczema on Black skin.
To kick off the third year of the program and bring vital skincare resources to more than 200,000 Black women, Aveeno® partnered with digital platform Health in Her HUE and Chanel Iman, a model who has long struggled with sensitive skin herself and was eager to share her story.
Launched in 2018 by founder and CEO Ashlee Wisdom, Health in Her HUE connects women of color to healthcare providers in their communities. Today, the platform features educational resources backed by Aveeno®, including expert advice on the best way to manage eczema-prone skin.
To help spread the word, Wisdom and Iman joined Kenvue Research & Development Scientist Jipsha Thakrar for interviews with the press, with Jipska speaking about a range of subjects — including the Aveeno® SkinVisibility commitment, product innovation and oat science — to outlets such as 21Ninety, BET, Essence, People and Us Weekly.
LISTERINE® launches “The Whoa Collection”
It’s a troubling statistic: Studies suggest more than 12% of the nation’s population is Black, but less than 4% of dentists identify as such. What’s more, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that “over 40% of low-income and non-Hispanic Black adults have untreated tooth decay.”
To help address these issues, LISTERINE® announced The Whoa Collection in September 2023. In partnership with the cultural agency Compound, the initiative aims to expand education and raise the standards of oral wellness in the U.S. by increasing Black representation in the field of dentistry in highly original ways.
Case in point: LISTERINE® and Compound teamed up with Grammy-award-winning producer Thundercat and contemporary artist King Saladeen to bring The Whoa Collection to life.
Thundercat contributed a track that sonically evokes LISTERINE® brand’s distinct “whoa” feeling, while King Saladeen created bold bottle artwork for a limited-edition set of LISTERINE® bottles. These original artworks were designed to spark conversation and drive more awareness to the diversity gap in dentistry within the Black community.
What’s more, a portion of the proceeds from The Whoa Collection benefits the non-profit Increasing Diversity in Dentistry (IDID), an organization that aims to address racial disparities in the dental workforce by cultivating, nurturing and mentoring underrepresented minority pre-dental students.
To heal and inspire: BAND-AID® Brand’s OURTONE™ Bandages
Launched in June 2021, BAND-AID® Brand OURTONE™ Adhesive Bandages were designed in three distinct shades of brown to help ensure that Black people and other people of color have more options in the first-aid aisle.
The bandages themselves are just a small part of the wider OURTONE™ mission, with the brand creating several initiatives that support the Black community through education, self-care scholarships, product donations and more.
In 2023, the brand illustrated its dedication to healing and the uplifting power of physical motion in a highly inspiring way: By helping to address the barriers that prevent Black and Brown communities from pursuing a career in dance — particularly limited resources and a lack of representation.
BAND-AID® Brand OURTONE® partnered with Dancing with the Stars pro Britt Stewart and her non-profit Share the Movement, enlisting both to host a series of dance clinics and provide informative dance resources to uplift Black and Brown communities.