The New Collection Aims to Depict Authentic and Diverse Representations of the Female Experience in Media
New York, NY – January 17, 2017 – Getty Images, a world leader in visual communications and Refinery29, the leading digital media company for a millennial-minded audience, today announced an expansion of their exclusive content partnership with the launch of The No Apologies collection. Expanding on The 67% Collection, the new library of images creates an opportunity for the media industry to evolve the conversation and action around accurately representing women’s bodies, diversity, and the experiences that women face in their everyday lives.
“Getty Images has always understood the power of imagery to incite change, and we are passionate about elevating the ways in which women are portrayed by the media,” said Pam Grossman, Director of Visual Trends at Getty Images. “While social conversations have become more inclusive in recent years regarding who is seen, traditional media has been slower to change. We’re excited to expand our partnership with Refinery29, and create a collection together that enables the millennial female experience to be more accurately and unapologetically represented in the editorial space.”
Available for editorial use, the images in The No Apologies Collection are diverse, unapologetic in their authentic depictions, and take ownership over the female narrative. The partnership will roll out four themes over the year, covering a wide-range of topics such as unique beauty, inclusive fashion, sex and intimacy, and women’s health, aiming to visualize a broad spectrum of the female experience. The first theme focuses on Expressive Beauty, seeking to provide beauty imagery that is nontraditional, irreverent, and includes of various depictions of what is considered beautiful.
“Historically, the ‘aspiration’ women have been sold by media and advertising is that they should be tall, thin, white, hetero, and blemish free. Millennial and Gen Z women are the most diverse in U.S. history and they’re looking for authentic images that reflect their personal experience; something that Refinery29 has long been committed to.” stated Piera Gelardi, co-founder and executive creative director of Refinery29. “Through collaborating with Getty Images, we aim to shift our societal beauty standards with inclusive and unfiltered visual images that provide the tools for others in the industry to more realistically portray women’s experiences, and create an opportunity for them to better connect with these important generations.”
Getty Images has seen the demand for body diversity and authenticity in depictions of women increase significantly. Over the last 12 months, search terms on gettyimages.com such as ‘differing abilities’ have increased 229%, ‘unfiltered’ by 219%,‘Real bodies’ by 147% and ‘Body Positivity’’ by 144%. Search terms around traditionally taboo topics such as ‘menstruation’ has also increased by 142%.
Refinery29 and Getty Images’ initial partnership around The 67% Collection was met with widespread acclaim for not only calling for change in the media industry, but actually creating the tools necessary in order to enact their mission of more accurately representing the population of plus-sized women in America. Through this partnership, the companies remain committed to acting as conversation starters and resources for their audiences and content creators alike, highlighting topics that apply to 360 degrees of a woman’s life, in order to permanently mitigate society’s bias against visualizing what it means to be a woman.
About Getty Images:
Getty Images is the most trusted and esteemed source of visual content in the world, with almost 200 million assets available through its industry-leading sites www.gettyimages.com and www.istock.com. The Getty Images website serves creative, business and media customers in almost 200 countries and is the first place people turn to discover, purchase and share powerful content from the world’s best photographers and videographers. Getty Images works with over 200,000 contributors and hundreds of image partners to provide comprehensive coverage of more than 130,000 news, sport and entertainment events, impactful creative imagery to communicate any commercial concept and the world’s deepest digital archive of historic photography.
Visit Getty Images at www.gettyimages.com to learn more about how the company is advancing the unique role of still and moving imagery in communication and business, and enabling creative ideas to come to life. For company news and announcements, visit our Press Room, and for the stories and inspiration behind our content, visit Stories & Trends. Find Getty Images on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
About Refinery29:
Refinery29 is the leading digital-media company focused on women with a global audience footprint of 493 million across all platforms. Through a variety of lifestyle stories, original video programming, and social, shareable content across all platforms, Refinery29 provides its audience with the inspiration and tools to discover and pursue a more independent, stylish, and informed life. Please visit www.refinery29.com, www.refinery29.uk, and www.refinery29.de for more information and to browse content.