Popular cosmetics brand Maybelline has broken boundaries by choosing a male model as a face of their brand. ‘Tall, white and skinny’ was the description that would fit most models. Now pushing the frontiers further, a gay YouTube star has become the first male model for international cosmetic giant Maybelline.

The video ad touches on issues of gender representation, ethnicity and lifestyle. The ad, like its 1960s counterpart, uses an aspirational image showing two friends who do not conform to masculine and feminine ideals but are nonetheless powerful: happy in their own skin, confident in their bodies and their sexuality.

Both emphasise how important it is to be comfortable with yourself and ‘live like a boss’, a positive mantra that is already well used and ingrained in everyday vernacular, especially with the younger generation. The whole campaign is youthful and empowering. Slogans like ‘let’s get bossed out’.

In 2017 they teamed up with beauty influencers for the first time, this also marks Maybelline’s first-ever partnership with a man as the star of a campaign, called Manny Gutierrez. After the recent demise of gay icon George Michael, several gay men had paid tribute to the singer recalling how he was a huge inspiration when they were growing up and helped make their coming out easier.