Selena Gomez just showed the beauty of accessibility. Are brands listening?

When Selena Gomez released her new Rare Beauty fragrance, it wasn’t just the scent that made headlines, it was the bottle.

Designed with input from a hand therapist, the bottle is shaped for easy grip, with a spray mechanism that requires minimal pressure.

It was created specifically to support people with limited hand mobility, including those with arthritis, chronic pain, or autoimmune conditions like lupus.

For many fans, especially those living with disabilities or chronic illnesses, this wasn’t just a thoughtful design. It was a powerful message: you matter.

Selena’s lived experience shaped the design

Selena Gomez has been open about her own struggles with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that affects joints and mobility, and her bipolar disorder diagnosis, which she publicly shared in 2020.

Her willingness to speak candidly about mental health and chronic illness has made her one of the few global celebrities to consistently platform invisible disabilities.

This fragrance launch feels like an extension of that advocacy — not through words, but through design.

It’s what happens when lived experience leads product development.

And in a world where so many disabled consumers are forced to adapt to inaccessible products, Selena flipped the script. Rare Beauty adapted for them.

Inclusive design is smart business, not charity

Accessibility is often misunderstood as a niche concern or a compliance checkbox.

But the numbers tell a different story.

Over 1.3 billion people globally live with a disability. When you factor in their families, caregivers, and allies, that represents a community with an estimated $13 trillion in annual spending power, according to the World Economic Forum.

This is not a small market. It’s a massive, often ignored one.

What Selena and Rare Beauty understand - much like Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty before them - is that inclusion sells.

Fenty’s 2017 launch with 40 foundation shades wasn’t just a cultural moment, it was a commercial gamechanger, pulling in over $100 million in 40 days.

Why? Because it reflected a truth most brands had ignored: when you design for more people, more people buy your product.

Gen Z and millennials expect values-driven brands

Today’s younger consumers aren’t just shopping based on aesthetics or trend cycles.

According to a McKinsey report, 73% of Gen Z and 66% of Millennials actively support brands that align with their values. They expect brands to take stands on mental health, social justice, environmental impact, and yes - accessibility.

When Rare Beauty launches a fragrance bottle that works for people with mobility impairments, it’s not just serving a customer - it’s building trust. That’s what creates long-term loyalty in a saturated market.

Accessibility can’t stop at the product

But there’s still one major place where brands drop the ball: the digital experience.

According to AudioEye’s 2025 Digital Accessibility Index, which analysed over 15,000 websites, there are an average of 297 accessibility errors per page - from unlabelled buttons and missing alt-text to checkout pages that break under screen readers.

And the fallout is real.

A Purple Pound study in the UK found that 83% of disabled consumers limit their shopping to websites they know are accessible. 71% abandon a website entirely if they encounter access barriers.

That means brands can pour money into accessible products, only to lose customers at the homepage.

Selena’s fragrance Is a blueprint for the future

Selena Gomez didn’t frame accessibility as a bonus feature. She framed it as good design.

The Rare Beauty fragrance is chic and inclusive - without sacrificing aesthetics or elegance.

This is the future of inclusive branding: where accessibility is not performative or pity-driven, but integrated into every touchpoint - from packaging to websites to marketing.

And it’s a reminder that when people with chronic illnesses, disabilities, or neurodivergent experiences lead the conversation, the end result isn’t “niche". It’s better for everyone.

We believe that accessibility isn’t a trend. It’s a requirement, a reflection of who we are, and who’s being left out.