When MAC launched its first Viva Glam lipstick and campaign with RuPaul in 1994, a beauty brand taking a stand for a social cause like HIV/AIDS was still a radical proposition. Since then, MAC’s Viva Glam line has raised more than half a billion dollars for charities whose causes include supporting people living with HIV/AIDS, and backing LGBTQ+ rights has become a more mainstream stance for many companies. But with corporate backing for diversity initiatives like Pride waning in 2025, MAC has reaffirmed its commitment to Viva Glam with a new launch and donation.
On Monday, MAC expanded its Viva Glam line with the launch of Viva Kimmitment, a red lip gloss shade made in collaboration with pop star and LGBTQ+ trailblazer Kim Petras. Alongside donating 100% of the proceeds from the limited-edition $25 lip gloss, MAC will donate $1 million to Viva Glam charity partners, which include The Trevor Project, Hetrick-Martin Institute and It Gets Better.
“Viva Glam is the heart of MAC,” said Aïda Moudachirou-Rebois, global gm of MAC Cosmetics. “Pride Month is an amazing time to also re-engage in those meaningful conversations. Because those conversations are important all year round, but there is a swell that goes around those conversations during Pride Month.”
In support of the launch, MAC will stage 20 events during Pride Month throughout the globe and launch a social campaign with its charity partners and Petras. Petras, who became the first openly trans artist to top the Billboard charts with her 2022 hit “Unholy” with Sam Smith, starred in her first Viva Glam campaign in 2024 alongside fellow musician Danna Paola.
When MAC launched its first Viva Glam lipstick in the mid-‘90s, AIDS was the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 25-44 and had killed one in 15 gay men in the U.S. As the HIV/AIDS crisis has subsided — according to the World Health Organization, HIV-related deaths have been reduced by 51% since 2010 — MAC has expanded the goals of the Viva Glam initiative.
“For the 30th anniversary of Viva Glam [in 2024], we clarified what the platform was, because HIV/AIDS, fortunately, is under control in most countries,” said Moudachirou-Rebois. “We have identified four pillars, which are racial equality, sexual equality, gender equality and environmental equality.”
Beauty tastes have evolved since 1994, as well. Lip glosses and lip butters from the likes of Rhode and Summer Fridays have largely supplanted lipstick as the hottest lip product. Moudachirou-Rebois said the idea for a Viva Glam lip gloss came from Petras’ own love of red lip gloss.
The Viva Kimmitment shade uses MAC’s Lipglass Air formula, which launched in April with a campaign starring “nepo babies” including Zaya Wade, daughter of basketball star Dwayne Wade. Moudachirou-Rebois said MAC’s inclusion of Wade, who has been the subject of public transphobia since coming out at the age of 12, prompted both supportive and negative comments.
LGBTQ+ protections and, in particular, trans rights have faced blowback under the Trump administration, which has directed government agencies to probe private companies supporting DEI initiatives. But Moudachirou-Rebois said MAC still has its sights set high for the Viva Glam project: The Estée Lauder-owned brand hopes to raise $1 billion for its charity partners.
“We did $500 million in 30 years, and we’ll be giving ourselves another 30 years to hit a billion dollars,” she said. “That’s the pace we’re giving ourselves.”
