Sephora's Project Hearts Not Hate Takes On Appearance-Based Hate

Sephora has launched Project Hearts Not Hate, its first global corporate cause, focused on appearance-based hate: the judgment and harassment people face because of their skin tone, hair texture, body size, age, disability and other parts of how they look.

The retailer has partnered with Right To Be, a nonprofit with more than 20 years of experience helping people respond safely to harassment. In the U.S., Sephora will donate to Right To Be for each Sephora Collection product sold on October 9 and 10. In Canada, Sephora has committed $1 per product sold on those days, up to $150,000 CAD.

What the research found

Sephora commissioned Ipsos to survey more than 20,000 people across ten markets, including the U.S. Seven in ten adults said they had faced discrimination or judgment because of their appearance. Among 18 to 24 year olds, that number rose to 85 percent.

Respondents named body type, weight or size (37 percent) and skin tone, ethnicity or origin (35 percent) as the top drivers. While 82 percent believe social media has made these moments more frequent, almost 90 percent of incidents happen offline, and 76 percent of those affected said they had limited their daily lives in at least one way.

“We have a responsibility to help shift a culture of judgment to a culture of acceptance and positivity.”

DEBORAH YEH, GLOBAL CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, SEPHORA

Training arrives in 2027

Right To Be developed the Sephora H.E.A.R.T.S. training for Sephora employees and the wider beauty community. Its six steps are Humanize, Educate, Acknowledge, Respond, Take care and Support, and the program begins rolling out in 2027.

Until then, shoppers can take part by buying Sephora Collection products through October 10, joining one of Right To Be's free trainings, or sharing a story on its Hate and Hope Tracker. For anyone who has been judged for their hair or skin in a store, an office or on the street, the message is a familiar one: this kind of hate rarely stays online.