For What it's Worth

Talking Self Esteem

When we first decided to talk about the issue of self esteem, we had to look high and low for an ambassador who was willing to talk frankly in a way that was both real and inspiring to young people.

With over twenty year’s experience of working with and alongside celebrities, their self-esteem is generally quite low, mainly due to the fact they are constantly in the spotlight. And being in the spotlight means that people are constantly critical of you.

Yet finding someone who is happy and ready to go on record by airing their struggles, is a different matter, especially in the age of the publicist and online phenomena where news travels fast.

And then along came a strong, outspoken woman, Kelly Osbourne; and who was happy to take some chances, and speak from the heart.

And while on the whole, the reaction we got to this campaign was great, I was disappointed to read a couple of articles that were cynical and jaded.

If you read the magazine interview with her in the current May issue of Elle, you’ll see she has been brave enough to bare her soul to the world. And that takes a lot of self-esteem.

As the mother of a teenage son, it was no surprise that our study discovered that 65 per cent of young people suffer from low self esteem. In our teens we are conscious of our bodies, and not so happy; when we’ve just had a baby, we can be not so happy afterwards; and as we hit menopause things change, so we are also not so happy – and we haven’t even got the eyes of the world on us.

Kelly - who is the Princes Trust’s youngest ambassador, has stepped forward and said: “I have esteem issues, and I’m addressing them. Alcohol doesn’t help, and nor do drugs.” I think it is great that she has done that.

I’m not trying to say that buying a beauty product is going to solve all your problems - I wouldn’t be that naive. But what we do at St. Tropez is provide products that make people look better in their eyes and therefore feel better.

What is most disappointing though is that the paparazzi style reporting has created a culture of criticism – no wonder people’s self-esteem is so low. It really isn’t fair to stand on the sidelines and condemn.

When I was growing up (I’m now in my late forties), you didn’t want to look like someone else – but instead be the best you could be. Sure, you took cues from pop culture and icons, but also sporting and social heroines. You didn’t necessarily have the media telling you how to look like this, or be like that – it wasn’t so extensive or instant. What I’ve realised since thinking about self-esteem is that now the media is constantly sending out messages about how you should be like other people, rather than actually being you.

Kelly has been herself, and that’s what I admire the most about her - she is proud to be her. Everybody is human and has got faults, well actually there are no faults - you are what you are. And the media has to start helping people be a better them, rather than somebody else.

In some ways things have moved on slightly, Marks and Spencer are using different aged models, and there are actresses in Hollywood who are willing to talk about their age, like Meryl Streep. But, on the flipside, I think younger people are expected, on every level, to perform well, more than I was. This expectation for young people: how they are, what they are, what they wear, what they want to become – it’s quite pressurised.

We know our products have limitations, but what we feel as a company, that is predominantly made-up of women, of all different age groups, is that you can look and feel better.

As the CEO of a beauty company, I feel that I can make a difference and I took a decision to do something that would help a charity I respect and admire very much, raise much needed funds to help disadvantaged young people to make a go of it. And so from my perspective, I really do believe that a little safe sun goes a long way…