• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, February 3, 2025

When Kiehl’s introduced new skincare products targeting in-grown pubic hairs last August, the apothecary created a series of ads that showed, well, pubic hair.

“Personal care was a new category for us,” says Steven Waldberg, senior vice president of brand engagement and communications of the L’Oreal-owned brand. It launched the new campaign, supporting Ingrown Hair & Tone Corrective Drops and Over & Under Cream-to-Powder Body Deodorant, with ads on social media, and with plenty of in-store and window posters.

Photos were relatively discreet and showed small fringes of pubic hair showing outside of a model’s underwear.

That’s why Waldberg was so surprised when he learned that some stores had been asked to remove the images.

“We were taken aback,” he says. “It’s not like we were showing people’s genitalia or anything.”

The more he and his team pondered the issue, the more they wondered if they might be missing a larger opportunity. “We thought, 'That’s not what Kiehl’s is about. Everyone has hair, and it’s all part of our skin – we want to help people care for all kinds of skin problems, and there’s no reason to be ashamed of any part of their body.”

The company turned to creative partner Marcel, owned by Publicis. “The team there came up with the clever idea of taking the model away, but coming up with a better way to say what we need to about pubic hair by creating this amazing font,” he says. “I don’t think anyone has ever done anything like this -- it is intricate and detailed.”

Headlines like "Our photos of models with pubic hair were censored, so we removed the models," "Pubic hair don't care," and "Apologies, we won't show pubic hair ever again." showcase the new font.

The campaign launched last week and has driven high engagement rates, he says, “and overwhelmingly positive net sentiment.”