'About bloody time': Tesco unveils first plasters for diverse skin tones

Tesco is calling on retailers to better represent the nation as it becomes the first UK supermarket to launch a diverse range of skin tone plasters. 

A campaign, by Bartle Bogle Hegarty London, will run across press and digital out-of-home to mark the new plasters. It debuted in the Evening Standard and Metro on February 24 with the tagline, "About bloody time". 

The work was created by Dan Seager and Steve Hall. MediaCom is the media agency. 

The fabric plasters are on sale from today in three skin tones – light, medium and dark – for £1. Tesco hopes the launch will inspire other retailers to follow suit and offer a more diverse range of plasters to customers.

The supermarket developed the product after a colleague saw a viral tweet in which a man described his emotional response after using a plaster for the first time that matched his skin tone. The Twitter commentary highlighted the lack of representative plaster tones for the BAME communities.

The "BAME at Tesco" internal employee network supported the project by testing the product with colleagues, gathering feedback and influencing the final design. 

Paulette Balson, chair of the BAME at Tesco network, said: "One of the main objectives of our network is to help Tesco better serve our customers from all backgrounds and communities. No UK supermarket had ever stocked plasters in a range of skin tones before and we saw this as an opportunity for Tesco to lead the charge and make a genuine difference.

"Through our research within the network, we know how emotive a product like this can be. For example, one colleague reported that their child had felt self-conscious wearing a plaster on their face to school recently, because it didn’t match their skin tone and stood out."

Nicola Robinson, health, beauty and wellness director at Tesco, added: "Our customers are at the heart of everything we do and we continually review our products and services to best meet their needs. As one of the largest retailers in the UK, we also understand that we have a responsibility to ensure our products reflect the diversity of our customers and colleagues.

"We believe the launch of our new skin tone plaster range is an important step and a move that we hope will be replicated by other retailers and supermarkets across the country."