This Ad Reminding Us To Stop Apologizing For How We Look Is So Necessary RN

Billie urges us to just be ourselves

Video calls and virtual meetings are the norm these days and with that comes the ever-so-lovely side effect of staring at yourself all day long. Of course, for many women this means more time critiquing our appearances and pointing out flaws (or not turning our cameras on at all). It also gives us just one more opportunity to apologize for how tired/old/pale/ugly we think we look.

Billie, a subscription service for beauty products, launched an empowering campaign called, “Are We Doing Video?” It was inspired by the mostly-female company after being on calls and seeing the dynamic for themselves, and urges women to stop beating themselves up and stop apologizing for how they look on calls.

“A lot of time spent on Zoom = a lot of looking at ourselves = a lot of knee jerk apologies for how we look,” the company said on Instagram where they released the powerful video. “Sorry for my bags! my roots! my grays! You name it, we’ve apologized for it. But when we say sorry for that stuff, aren’t we really just apologizing for looking like… ourselves?”

The video shows various women jumping on calls and immediately pointing out their flaws to anyone who will listen. They complain about shiny faces, acne, grey hairs, double chins, even “looking like a labradoodle,” all the perceived flaws on full display now that we spend so much time connecting with friends, family, and coworkers virtually.

When one of the women joins a call and notices everyone else’s cameras are turned off, she asks, “I thought this was a video call?” The question prompts another more important one: What if we stop apologizing for looking like ourselves?

“Billie is synonymous with championing women and moving the needle to overcome societal standards,” the brand said in a release. “With the expansion of their product line into clean beauty, they’re widening their gaze beyond normalizing body hair (as they did with Project Body Hair) and addressing the larger societal pressure to look a certain way.”

It’s such an important message as women have always been held to unattainable beauty standards. Add to that our current environment, the increase of anxiety and depression happening as a result of this pandemic, lack of sleep, and just general uncertainty about, well, everything, and it makes it even easier to put ourselves down.

At the end of the video, they show participants — beautiful flaws and all — and owning what they look like, which is honestly so much more inspiring than wallowing in our own insecurities. Well done, Billie.