Salma Hayek praises Avon for using advertising to create a social consciousness
Hollywood actress Salma Hayek has applauded Avon for raising awareness of domestic violence and supporting charities associated at a time “when no one wanted to talk about it.”
Speaking with Facebook vice president EMEA, Nicola Mendlesohn, at Advertising Week Europe today (23 March), Hayek said when she was approached by the company in 2004 they initially “just wanted a face”.
Despite offers from a more “glamorous company”, Hayek said she had a lot of respect for the beauty brand.
“I remember in Mexico [where she grew up], mothers were able to earn a living and send their kids to school through working with Avon,” she said.
Not content with simply appearing in ads and posing for pictures, Hayak asked the company to work with her on raising awareness of domestic violence and the charities that support women affected.
“For a lot of the women their dream was to be financially independent,” she said, explaining why she knew it to be a perfect relationship.
However, Avon initially declined.
“At the time their main cause was cancer, and they were doing great work. But I convinced them,” laughed Hayek. “Because of this they’ve raised more than $90m for domestic violence. They used advertising to create a social consciousness.”
During the session the star also admitted that she has avoided social media up until now, saying it has a tendency to pull people out of the moment.
“I resisted it for a long time. I feel that people are not present because of social media. But you can’t deny that’s it important today.”
She revealed that she had joined Facebook that morning and was planning to start using Instagram the next day via the handle @SalmaHayek.
“I hashtagged myself for the first time,” she joked.
She has picked up some of the tried and tested ways to gain popularity on the platform – using her final moments on stage to take a selfie with the audience.