Thursday, February 2, 2012

Plastic Lies






The beauty industry is a BILLION dollar industry. I love this industry and I have stated many times before that I LOVE makeup! A makeup artist brushes are very powerful tools in changing someones look, attitude and ultimately life. There is nothing like feeling pretty. When you feel like you look good, your confidence level will soar and so will you.
With that being said, the one thing I do not like about this industry, is sometimes there seems to be a little Tom Foolery going on with the advertisements of some of these products.
One of the major culprits of this is mascara ads!
Ladies! ALL of the women in mascara advertisements are wearing false eyelashes! Sometimes multiple bands! On top of the false eyelashes, they are photoshopped!


One ad in particular that comes to mind, is from a major cosmetics line that will remain unnamed. The ad for the mascara they are pushing states that if you wear their mascara, it will look as if you are wearing false eyelashes. The ad shows a model with the sickest set of winged out lashes that would make a Kardashian jealous with lash envy!
However, I believe it is actually the FALSE EYELASHES THE MODEL IS WEARING that are making her lashes look so amazing and NOT the mascara. I have used this mascara and although my lashes looked good, they did not look like the model in the advertisement. If you want that winged out fake eyelash look, invest in some fake eyelashes!

Another major culprit in this trickery are any ads having to do with skin, such as foundation or moisturizers. Now I am all for airbrushing and photoshopping, I do believe they have their place and are needed in advertisements-it is the over touching that becomes questionable. If I had to do a photo shoot, I would request the photographer airbrush me into a lineless, creasless, poreless, younger version of myself but as a consumer,  I would be very skeptical seeing a photo of a celebrity spokesperson, looking half her age and believing that some potion in a bottle caused that miracle! Especially when I just saw her the night before on the red carpet looking much more like her real self!
 
 

There are plenty of wonderful products on the market that do help to prevent the aging process, however there is not one single product that is going to take away every line on your face. It is a combination of good products, healthy living and avoiding the sun. It's a multi step process! And you still won't be completely lineless and who wants to be!? If you want to be completely lineless, start saving up for that plastic surgery (which I am definitely not against) or learn how to use photoshop!

This week the The U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority banned a L’Oreal advertisement featuring Rachel Weisz for being misleading. Although I did not think the ad looked over worked, I do think these companies need their hands slapped every now and again. If you look at Zooey Deshanel's Rimmel London ad's, she looks downright plastic!


According to Bloomberg Businessweek:

The ban follows a complaint by member of parliament Jo Swinson, a member of the Liberal Democrat party and co-founder of the Campaign for Body Confidence, a lobbying group focused on depictions of women. The ASA last year prohibited L’Oreal ads featuring actress Julia Roberts and supermodel Christy Turlington for similar reasons after complaints by the MP.

“The beauty and advertising industries need to stop ripping off consumers with dishonest images,” Swinson said in a statement. “Images can be aspirational, without being faked.”

A L’Oreal spokesman said the company doesn’t believe the ad exaggerates the effect that can be achieved using the product, adding that the claims are based on scientific research.

Again, there are some really great makeup and skincare products on the market that truly work. There really is no reason to mislead or exaggerate and women should not have to live up to such unrealistic standards of beauty! The women in these ads don't even exist-they are just plastic versions of themselves!