Lauren Luke's Powerful PSA Urges Domestic Violence Victims Not to Cover it Up
British makeup artist Lauren Luke's newest tutorial, "How to look your best the morning after," seems like a something young women might use to learn how to hide a hangover. But when the 30-year-old YouTube sensation sits down in front of her camera, she's not sporting dark circles or disheveled hair. She has bruises along her jaw, a split lip, and a massive black eye. She looks like she's been beaten up.
"Hiya everyone! Sorry I haven't been online much lately, but I'm back, I'm here," she chirps, smiling sheepishly. "I've had a bit of a rough time, but I'm going to do a video today on how to cover up." Then she launches into her tutorial as if it's any other beauty video.
But her instructions, delivered in a steady, matter-of-fact tone, are chilling. "If you've got a lot of bruising from being pushed hard against a coffee table, you can gently apply layer after layer and you will cover it up slightly," she says, wincing as she dabs a brush around her swollen-looking eye. "Now, it might hurt," she murmurs. "Just try your best."
Luke's make-up videos have racked up more than 126 million views and her 440,000-plus subscribers, most of whom are young and female, are the target audience for a new campaign by the U.K.-based charity Refuge, to raise awareness about domestic violence. According to Refuge, one woman in four experiences domestic violence during her lifetime, two women are killed each week by a current or former partner, and 65 percent of victims try to keep the abuse hidden. The copy at the end of Luke's video simply reads, "Don't cover it up. Share this and help someone speak out. #dontcoveritup"
"The bruising on my face for the video wasn't real, but my emotions in that video were," Luke tells Adweek. "I had a bad experience in the past with a previous boyfriend. He never physically hurt me but I did sometimes fear what would happen next if I said the wrong thing. He could be overprotective and embarrass me in front of my work colleagues or friends because of his aggressive behavior. Sometimes it was like living with a volcano which could erupt at any second -- I felt I was walking on egg shells just to keep him from exploding and smashing something across the room."
She channels those memories into the public service announcement. When she hears a door open and close in the background, she looks frightened and quickly shuts off the camera. The viewer can't help but feel a little panicky, too.
"The reason I did this film is because domestic violence is a huge issue and I don't think it gets the exposure that it needs," Luke says in a video interview for Refuge.
"To open up and be honest about something like this makes us feel weak among our friends and family, but in actual fact there is nothing weak about it," she tells AdWeek. "Those who are abusive behind closed doors are the ones who are weak. Back then I knew the whole situation wasn't normal, but I didn't know about the help that is out there. And that is why I wanted to work with Refuge-to get the message out to anyone who may need help and support that it's time to stop covering it up."
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