Kiehl’s Celebrates Pride Month with Campaign Supporting the Ali Forney Center
MARKETING
Artist Credit: AVAF.
Pride Month means different things to different brands. For Kiehl's Since 1851, it has meant decades of genuine, sustained commitment,long before rainbow campaigns became a June marketing staple. This year, that commitment comes to life through one of the brand's most visually striking and community-focused Pride efforts yet.
Kiehl's 2026 "Love is Natural" campaign launches with two powerful pillars: a vibrant creative collaboration with internationally acclaimed artist collective assume vivid astro focus (avaf), and a $150,000 donation to the Ali Forney Center, the nation's largest nonprofit dedicated to protecting LGBTQIA+ youth experiencing homelessness. It's a campaign that puts both beauty and impact front and center.
An Explosion of Color, Identity, and Joy
The visual heart of the campaign is a partnership with avaf, whose immersive, boundary-pushing artistic practice has appeared at MoMA, the Whitney Biennial, MoCA Los Angeles, and the São Paulo Bienal. For Kiehl's, avaf has created a world that feels alive, lush, growing, and deliberately joyful.
"We wanted to visualize this belief as an explosion of color, openness, and transformation, suggesting growth and liberation," avaf explained of the campaign imagery. "The imagery grows outward organically, a celebratory living garden or ecosystem, blossoming into different identities and self-expressions."
Brought to life across Kiehl's stores and digital platforms, the artwork transforms the campaign from a marketing moment into something more immersive, a visual celebration of love in all its forms, centered on the belief that identity is not something to be explained, but embraced.
The Action Behind the Artistry
As beautiful as the campaign is, the impact behind it is what distinguishes Kiehl's approach to Pride. For the third consecutive year, the brand is deepening its partnership with the Ali Forney Center, and the statistics that underscore the urgency of that work are sobering. An estimated 40% of unhoused youth in the United States identify as LGBTQIA+. Demand for the Ali Forney Center's services increased by 30% in 2025 alone.
The Center's work is comprehensive and life-changing: a 24/7 drop-in center, transitional housing across 14 sites in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, job readiness training, mental health counseling, and healthcare access. Each year, the organization serves more than 2,200 young people between the ages of 16 and 24. Remarkably, 80% of youth who go through the program graduate into independent living.
Kiehl's $150,000 contribution in 2026 will directly support safe housing and developmental services for those young people. Alex Roque, President and Executive Director of the Ali Forney Center, reflected on what the partnership means: "Kiehl's understands that supporting our youth means investing in their dignity, their futures, and their right to be seen and celebrated."
A Legacy That Goes Beyond June
Kiehl's has supported the LGBTQIA+ community since the late 1980s, through HIV/AIDS partnerships, philanthropic initiatives, and sponsorship of NYC Pride. Since 2015, those efforts have contributed more than $1.4 million to LGBTQIA+ causes globally. This year's campaign continues that legacy with the same spirit that has always defined it: love isn't a seasonal campaign. It's a year-round commitment.
For more information about the "Love is Natural" campaign and Kiehl's Open Doors initiative, visit Kiehls.com.
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