Have you seen the numerous news stories on television this weekend about Esther Honig?

Honig is a freelance journalist in Kansas City, MO, who sent a photo of herself to 40 graphic designers, and said: “Make me beautiful.”

The results of Honig’s “Before & After” project showed just how drastically the perception of beauty changes around the world. Honig recruited the freelance graphic designers, which were from more than 25 countries, from a website called Fivver.

It can be useful for a brand – especially product development teams and marketers – to see how each graphic designer was influenced by the place they lived when they created their version of ‘beauty,’ using Photoshop.

Makeup colors, such as eye shadow, changed drastically from country to country – a few are very much unexpected! Of all the media coverage, Buzzfeed has the best photos, but check our Honig’s website to see the ‘befores’ and ‘afters’ side-by-side.

Perhaps Honig was inspired to start the discussion about the meaning of beauty from all those Dove’s ten-year-long campaign about Real Women – and the brand’s latest social experiment?

It’s obvious that consumers enjoy thinking a little deeper about the meaning of beauty – especially women. The video ad Dove created last year as part of its Real Beauty campaign received more than 114 million views.

So what’s the takeaway for marketers?

Brands might want to think about creative ways to show women consumers they understand ‘beauty’ – and how it is so personal and subjective.

Photos: www.estherhonig.com