MAC’s interest in fighting for the LGBTQ+ community is embedded in the brand's DNA. We have never been afraid to talk about difficult issues where others may not be willing to go.” “The Viva Glam campaign started at the height of the AIDS epidemic as a community response mechanism to make a meaningful difference in the lives of people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. “MAC has stood with the LGBTQ community from the very beginning,” Mahon tells TZR. As of 2019, the Viva Glam campaign raised and donated $500 million to organizations like Planned Parenthood, GLAAD, and Girls Inc., and this year, the brand donated $10 million to communities of color disproportionately affected by COVID-19, according to Nancy Mahon, global executive director of the MAC Viva Glam Fund. The 1994 celebration was in honor of the brand's first Viva Glam campaign, a line of vibrant lipsticks and lip glosses from which 100% of proceeds are donated to benefit people with AIDS and HIV all around the world. MAC is a brand that historically puts action behind its activism. We live in a world of diluted marketing - whether that is brands selling tacky rainbow-printed products or posting a blank black square with the hashtag #blackouttuesday - where brands seldom support their claims of solidarity without offering tangible action. MAC Cosmetics' mission to support marginalized communities continues to prove that the brand is, and has always been, a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community. While the big parties might be at a standstill for a while, the brand's inclusive messaging is still the same 26 years later. "I’ll tell you why… because MAC is for everybody.”
Why did they choose that Black man who puts on makeup ?" RuPaul asks an attentive crowd. "And everybody wants to know why they chose RuPaul to be the first MAC Viva Glam spokesperson. RuPaul, MAC Cosmetics' first spokesperson for the Viva Glam campaign, takes center stage as the room hushes. Large electronic images of the statuesque model posing fiercely illuminate every wall while cookies that say “I am the MAC Girl” are being passed around. It’s 1994 in London, and partygoers donning their finest attire attend a soiree filled with champagne flutes and club music.