Whether you’re conscious of it or not, every time you see an advertisement or commercial for a beauty product, and the camera pans to a celebrity’s hands, it’s almost always a hand model. It’s the same story when A-listers are applying nail polish, showing off a new engagement ring collection, or test-driving a car. Whenever hands are needed in the advertising space, hand models are recruited to step in. Now think hard to all the hands you’ve seen: have any of them been plus-size? Not really.
If a person’s hand has never dictated whether or not they can wear nail polish, rings, or have healthy, shiny nails – why aren’t more adverts reflective of that? Although the fashion industry has come a long way with curvy initiatives, the nail industry is still behind. Case in point: images of nonpetite hands are few and far between. The lack of hand diversity becomes problematic when the sole purpose of a commercial or beauty advertisement is for a brand to convince you the product is essential for your life and will make you feel more beautiful. So why exclude such a large portion of the…
