Glam for Good

Every Day is Worlds AIDS Day at M·A·C Cosmetics

by Elizabeth Bleiberg

 
In the world of style and beauty, one company took a stand in the battle against HIV and AIDS long before it was fashionable.

Former makeup artists Frank Toskan and Frank Angelo founded leading professional cosmetics company M·A·C (Make-up Art Cosmetics) in Toronto in 1985, setting the groundwork for what would become one of the fashion world’s most popular and successful brands of makeup. In 1994, the rapidly spreading AIDS epidemic led Toskan and Angelo to start the M·A·C AIDS Fund in response to their intense personal and professional sense of loss.

“At first, many people were surprised that a beauty company would choose AIDS as its cause,” says John Demsey, president of M·A·C and chairman of the M·A·C AIDS Fund, “but for M·A·C, it was a natural connection. In the early 1980s, many of us in the fashion, beauty, and entertainment communities lost friends, colleagues, and loved ones to this disease – even before others understood it. Since then, M·A·C Cosmetics has been determined to bring awareness and help to those affected by HIV and AIDS globally.”

To date, the M·A·C AIDS Fund has raised over $40 million to support men, women, and children living with HIV and AIDS. In doing so, the company has created a successful model for corporate social responsibility.

The M·A·C AIDS Fund is now a recognized leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS globally, supporting more than 500 organizations worldwide. It provides funding to nonprofit HIV/AIDS organizations and programs for such needs as food, clothing, housing, healthcare, transportation for medical visits, outpatient visits, and other social services. Among the most recent beneficiaries of these funds are Heartland CARES Inc. (Kentucky), God’s Love We Deliver (New York), Siem Reap (Cambodia), STOP-GAP (California), and PASAN (Toronto).

“Not only have we focused on raising funds to support these groups, but we are also dedicated and committed to furthering AIDS awareness and education while confronting the stigma and discrimination associated with AIDS,” says Lilia Garcia-Leyva, executive director of the M·A·C AIDS Fund. “Even though this disease is now in its third decade, most people don’t realize that AIDS remains the world’s most urgent health problem.

“More than 40 million people across the globe – 95 percent of them in developing countries – are living with HIV/AIDS,” she continues. “It is the leading cause of death in Africa, and the fourth leading cause of death globally. Worldwide, HIV/AIDS has orphaned approximately 14 million children. Those numbers are staggering, and we are determined to drastically change those statistics.”

To strengthen its message and actions, the M·A·C AIDS Fund has worked intimately and tirelessly with dozens of like-minded global powerhouse organizations to extend its resources and increase awareness of the epidemic. In 2003, the Fund led an international fundraising effort on behalf of AIDS related programs established by the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, the Global Health Council, and the United Nations Development Programme. Also in 2003, the Fund teamed with the Elton John AIDS Foundation to launch a series of Public Service Announcements aimed at changing high-risk sexual behavior among American teens. Focusing on safe sex, trust, and monogamy, the award-winning PSAs aired on several major U.S. television networks.

“There are many faces of AIDS – male and female, young and old, black and white, gay and straight,” says Demsey, “and that is very much in line with M·A·C’s messaging of ‘all races, all sexes, all ages.’ We have used the power of our brand to make a difference.”

“I remember my first visit to see AIDS patients in New York,” he continues. “It was a real eye-opener. Meeting people firsthand who actually benefit from the Fund truly brought home for me the importance of our work and the need to continue long into the future. We may have raised $40 million in our first ten years, but we will do this for as long as it takes.”

The exceptional enthusiasm and passion of M·A·C employees is the foundation for the M·A·C AIDS Fund’s achievements. Company-wide HIV/AIDS educational and awareness training seminars are held regularly, emphasizing the importance of the Fund’s contributions. Under the leadership of Demsey, the Fund is embraced by employees as the “heart and soul” of M·A·C.

“M·A·C employees have embraced the cause and live every day as if it were World AIDS Day,” says Garcia-Leyva. While other companies commemorate December 1 as World AIDS Day, she adds, “M·A·C does this 365 days a year, with staff from M·A·C offices in Toronto and New York, and at M·A·C counters in malls around the world committing their personal and professional time and resources to fighting the disease.”

VIVA GLAM

How did the M·A·C AIDS Fund raise $40 million? As the charitable arm of the leading professional cosmetics company, funds come, fittingly, from makeup. It all began with a lipstick called VIVA GLAM, a “glamorous outspoken red,” and a commitment that 100 percent of the selling price would be donated to the M·A·C AIDS Fund. Add to the mix superstars like Linda Evangelista, and a little lipstick goes a very long way.

Introduced in 1994, VIVA GLAM lipstick has become one of the cosmetic world’s most profitable fundraising initiatives of all time. A success since its launch, the VIVA GLAM program was further enhanced by the introduction of four more shades: VIVA GLAM II in 1997, VIVA GLAM III in 2000, VIVA GLAM IV in 2002, and VIVA GLAM V in 2004.

M·A·C Cosmetics continues to underwrite all VIVA GLAM related expenses and, along with its retail partners, contributes 100 percent of the retail selling price of each lipstick to the M·A·C AIDS Fund. Leading worldwide retailers – including Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, Filene’s, and Henri Bendel – committed to supporting the Fund by waiving all administrative costs and profits.

Not only was the idea of VIVA GLAM a first, but for M·A·C Cosmetics, so was the concept of advertising. In its history, M·A·C has only advertised in support of the VIVA GLAM campaigns, eschewing advertising for the rest of its products. The company’s success has grown strictly from a tradition of word-of-mouth endorsement from makeup artists, models, photographers, and journalists in more than 46 countries.

When M·A·C delved into advertising for the M·A·C AIDS Fund’s VIVA GLAM campaign, the ground-breaking company made a huge splash, with a diverse and spectacular lineup of multi-talented superstars serving as powerful emissaries.

With the help of its first spokesperson, drag queen RuPaul, millions around the world learned that one lipstick could make a difference. But the superstar lineup behind VIVA GLAM was just beginning. Since then, Sir Elton John, k.d. lang, Lil’ Kim, Mary J. Blige, and Shirley Manson have served as spokespeople for the lipstick, with their faces featured in memorable VIVA GLAM print ads.

The newest faces in the VIVA GLAM family are Grammy Award-winners Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott, Academy Award-nominated actress Chloe Sevigny, pop icon Boy George, and one of the world’s most beautiful women, original supermodel Linda Evangelista. These powerful voices and faces continue to educate M·A·C customers and the public at large about HIV/AIDS. As a result, VIVA GLAM lipstick is purchased – and worn – by millions.

“We need money to do the work that we do, and nothing sells like a lipstick,” says Demsey. “I hope everyone who purchases VIVA GLAM knows where the money is going. Consumers are doing something incredible when they buy it.”

KIDS HELPING KIDS

Although the primary fundraiser for the M·A·C AIDS Fund, VIVA GLAM is not the only product to make a difference. To supplement the Fund, several other innovative fundraising programs have been implemented, including the highly successful Kids Helping Kids Greeting Cards, created by children affected by HIV/AIDS and sold during the holiday season to benefit HIV/AIDS organizations. To date, the $6 cards, sold at M·A·C counters and through www.maccosmetics.com, have raised over $1 million.

Kids Helping Kids is an annual project, with all proceeds from sales going directly to AIDS programs. This past holiday season, for the first time since the program launched in 1994, 100 percent of sales were donated to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation via the M·A·C AIDS Fund for pediatric AIDS programs and treatment services in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and South America. Celebrities such as Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and Cynthia Nixon showed their support of the cards by spreading the word that they use them for their personal holiday greetings.