Pantene has turned to transgender rights campaigner and writer Paris Lees to serve as the new face of the hair care brand.
The partnership with the Proctor & Gamble brand will see Lees push for greater visibility of trans people in mainstream society, particularly trans teens, with Lees also attracted to the brand as a ‘powerful expression of femininity’.
Commenting on the role Lees said: “Being able to turn on the television, being able to look in a magazine, look online and see that there are brands celebrating people from [the trans] community . . . it’s like the middle ground has shifted.
“I never actually thought that trans people would be celebrated. I thought that we could maybe reduce the stigma, but I didn’t realise that it would become aspirational, that we’d be winning awards and appearing on the cover of magazines and being in advertising.”
For its part, P&G has been keen to harness its huge marketing budget for social good while simultaneously establishing stronger identities around its product line.
Growing awareness of trans issues has seen a wave of brands embrace the sector, notably Amazon Alexa which gave voice to the International Transgender Day of Visibility.