The word, facial, makes women sigh with joy. It’s usually a treatment for relaxation, cleansing and rejuvenation. Uncommon and dermal science skincare brand, NIOD, have hijacked the term for their campaign to highlight the issue of skin-damaging pollution and the NIOD product, Superoxide Dismutase 3 Enzyme Mist (SDEM3), formulated to combat it.

The New York Facial (also the London Facial, Los Angeles Facial and Toronto Facial), leads with a social film that mirrors popular beauty and skincare tutorials seen across social feeds. But instead of showing luxurious creams and hydrating oils being applied, the film captures attention by depicting a collection of harmful toxins, all of which are seeping into the skin of city dwellers as they go about their daily lives.

The content is designed to stop the scroll, being a far cry from the light, bright beauty content and glossy product shots typically seen on socials.

The full campaign includes teasers of the hero film as well as extensive creator activity across London, New York, Los Angeles and Toronto, with kits containing a mock ‘hazardous’ Facial product – that recipients are unable to open for fear of its extensive toxic ingredients – and a bottle of SDEM3.

Ellie Daghlian and Elisa Czerwenka, creative directors at Uncommon Creative Studio, stated, “The industry playbook to launching a premium skincare product isn’t to rub toxins on someone’s face, but that’s exactly why we did it. We wanted to hold up a mirror to city living and make the invisible impossible to ignore. The New York Facial is beauty content you can’t just scroll past – because it makes you feel something you probably didn’t want to. NIOD are pioneers in science-backed skincare, we wanted to disrupt the sea of picture-perfect skincare content to put the benefits of this innovative product front and centre.”