Japanese prestige beauty company SK-II has partnered with CCTV.COM for an innovative social experiment that highlights the power of its hero Pitera range and explores the link between age and youth.
The film, #MoreYouthfulAsYouAge — Youth, Seeing is Believing, saw a panel of eight beauty enthusiasts assess the condition of the long-time SK-II users’ skin through a combination of close-up skin investigation and blind touch tests.
“Women are often defined by their age and status but at SK-II we believe that age is only a measure of life, not the defining factor,” commented Global SK-II CEO Sue Kyung Lee.
“With the power of our signature Pitera, youth is not bound by age and skin transformation can take place at any stage of life. We hope to encourage women to embrace their best selves in skin and in life and continue growing more youthful with age.”
The panel featured skincare ingredient beauty blogger Kenji, beauty KOL Mao Xiao Xing, beauty media editor Jialin and photographer Yi Juan Min Yao, alongside four skincare consumers.
The panel guessed SK-II user YiZhiang’s age as 37, 24 years younger than her actual age of 61. Zheng Xiao Lu, who is 33 years old and has been using SK-II for 12 years, was believed to be 25.
The panel also thought that 43-year-old participant Lu Xiao Lu was her daughter’s friend instead of her mother.
The film was inspired by a segment on The Truth S2, a popular variety show on streaming platform Tencent where a detective was tasked to uncover the identity of a mystery witness based on the appearance of their skin.
The film featured some expert commentary from Peking University Dermatological Expert Dr Wang Xiangxi M.D. It also highlighted hero products from the Pitera line, including the Facial Treatment Essence, GenOptics Ultraura Essence and Skinpower Advanced Cream.
Since its release one week ago, the film has garnered 66.7 million views on Douyin, while the hashtag #什么是真正的年轻 (What is real youth?) has reached 180 million views on Weibo.
#MoreYouthfulAsYouAge – Youth, Seeing is Believing builds on SK-II’s growing collection of stories about its hero Pitera line. Over the years, SK-II has released several memorable, storytelling-driven campaigns including 2017’s Face The Wild Face the Camera campaign with National Geographic, 2018’s Bare Skin Project with Magnum Photos and 2019’s Bare Skin Chat beauty web series.
2022 saw the release of Pitera & Me, a self-directed film series that put its Gen Z Brand Ambassadors in the spotlight, and Late Night Portraits, which featured no-makeup portraits of long-time SK-II Ambassadors late at night.
In 2023, SK-II launched The Secret Key film series. As reported, the release of the three-film documentary series coincides with the premiere of the SK-II Secret Key House, a multi-dimensional art exhibition which reveals the long-held secrets behind the brand’s exclusive Pitera ingredient. ✈
