I was just reading the back page of a month old issue of New Scientist where it highlighted with amusement some hair care product that would turn your hair purple “as nature intended” with its plant extracts and non artifical ingredients.
And then there’s all the adverts on TV with stuff like shampoo with vitamin C in it and so on.
Most cosmetic products seem to be marketed with this sort of drivel, and quite often the ones that claim to have scientific backing behind them are the worst in terms of making pathetic claims. In the small print you’ll see something like “in study of 47 women 65% agreed with this statement”.
If I was a woman I’d actually be really pissed off with this as it’s basically treating me as a total idiot, completely incapable of critical evaluation.
I am less offended by the BS “science” than by the rampant photoshopping done on the adds. Yes this makeup will take ten years off, see how great the model looks. Well, the makeup combined with hours of photo retouching.
I would be all for limiting the amount of Photoshop allowed on advertising.
The studies don’t really bother me because I never really bought into them anyway. I just kind of ignore that part of the add.
I am neither female, nor a metrosexual, but I find most advertising is aimed at idiots. It’s not just cosmetics ads.
Of course, I am not exactly the ideal consumer - I have almost no brand loyalty at all, I care less than nothing what the neighbors think about my car, and I rather doubt that women will begin to find me irresistible if I change my brand of beer.
I can’t remember who said it, but putting vitamin C on your hair is rather like rubbing a steak on your stomach and hoping thereby to gain weight.
Most commercials treat their viewers like idiots. I could care less - if I want the product I buy it, if I don’t, I don’t.
I think BELIEVING the adverts might make someone an idiot, but who cares if the ad department decided to throw something against the wall to see if it sticks? Doesn’t bother me.
I always assume the retouching was going the other direction–they’re made up to look worse, so then, when they look normal, they look like they’ve gotten better.
I enjoy the 5-hour energy commercial with the doctor survey: “Over 73% said they would recommend a low calorie energy supplement to their healthy patients who use energy supplements.”
“So, Doctor, if you have a healthy patient using an energy supplement, would you prefer that it at least be low calorie?”
“Sure.”
I find cosmetics commercials offensive because they imply that aging is a curse, and that woman are hideous to look at unless they paint their faces. The ridiculousness of the claims is just a bonus.
I think people who aren’t quite sure are their target market.
There used to be a shampoo in the US with beer in it, because women used to (still do, for all I know) wash their hair in beer to make it shiny. The company had to actually tell their consumers in the commercial not to drink the shampoo. I guess it is of a piece with the instructions on my lawn mower not to try to trim hedges with it.
And the Braille on the drive-thru ATM keypad at my bank.
