Coty hosted a cross-industry roundtable to discuss the impacts of restrictive beauty ideals—and urges the public to sign its petition asking major English dictionary publishers to revise outdated definitions of beauty.
 
The #UndefineBeauty campaign debuted in 2023 when Coty’s CEO said the dictionary’s defintion of beauty is ageist & sexist. Now, Coty has recruited experts from various industries to take part in a panel discussion to draw attention to the cause, once again. 

The participants debunked beauty myths and discussed the definition of beauty from various perspectives, including neuroscience, art, social media, sociology, and mental health. 

The experts in the roundtable discussion are:

• Anita Bhagwandas, Award-winning Journalist and Author (shown above, top row, second from right)
• Anna Bayern, Coty Chief Corporate Affairs Officer (top row, at right)
• Denise Schindler, Multi-medal Paralympic Cyclist (bottom row, at right)
• Ewa Grzelakowska-Kostoglu, Red Lipstick Monster, Beauty Influencer (bottom row, second from left) 
• Francisco Vidal, Portuguese-Angolan Contemporary Artist (bottom row, second from right)
• Jessica Bondy, Words Matter Charity Founder (bottom row, at left)
• John-Dylan Haynes, Brain Scientist and Psychologist, Professor at the Charité Medical University in Berlin (top row, ssecond from left)
• Priya Srinivasan, Coty Chief People and Purpose Officer (top row, at left)

 
 “As a beauty company, we recognize our responsibility to reflect a diverse vision of beauty. Our ongoing commitment to this campaign, including our latest roundtable discussion, underscore our resolve to create beauty for everyone. Our goal is to help each person feel their most beautiful self.”

—Sue Nabi, CEO, Coty

Highlights from the Panel Discussion

A few highlights from the panel discussion from the video below, and featured on Coty’s UndefineBeauty campaign site, are:

• “We have to normalize that all expressions of beauty are valid, that all people and all bodies are accepted,” said Ewa Grzelakowska-Kostoglu, a beauty influencer known as “Red Lipstick Monster.”


• Professor John Dylan-Haynes, brian scientist and psychologist at Charite Medical University in Berlin, commented, “The strong components of our beauty assessments are acquired. So I think it’s very valuable that we break up these shackles and break up this idea that there is this one stereotypical definition of beauty.” 


• Personal bias and cultural backgrounds play a role in influencing differing perspectives, especially when it comes to defining beauty. “The lighter the skin you are, the more beautiful you are supposed to be. So clearly with me, with my skin tone, I was out of the equation,” said Priya Srinivasan, Chief People and Purpose Officer, Coty.


• Francisco Vidal, Portuguese-Angolan Contemporary Artist, noted, “Beautiful comes from inside of our bodies. The beauty that we cannot see, we have this universe inside of us and there is this universe outside of us, so we need to know how to balance. We must fight to be ourselves.”

Coty Calls On Publishers—Again

Coty’s initial campaign and petition, which included an open letter to major English dictionaries to call for an update of the current definition of the word ‘beauty,’ didn’t result in a response from publishers. 

Coty is asking again—to change the definition of beauty to reflect today’s society.
 
Coty is inviting everyone to join the #UndefineBeauty movement and help drive change by signing the petition on change.org.

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