This video was in my Facebook news feed yesterday:
Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.
Almost every image we look at has had some kind of tweek. (Hypenotic’s own Graphic Designer Sonja photoshops most of her Facebook profile pictures. Don’t tell her I told you.) From basic colour correction to a complete metamorphosis; it’s a given that every beauty industry marketing image we look at is false. Every single one. And we have no idea to what extent. As consumers we rely on these ads to show us how a beauty product will perform. I can’t take lipstick back to Shopper’s if it isn’t plumping my lips as promised on the packaging.
There is a however a growing backlash. Recently L’Oreal ads were banned in the UK for being too photoshopped. And in the US, there is now a push to pass the Self Esteem Act, which would label all photos that had been airbrushed or photoshopped in any significant way.
At this point though as savvy (and cynical) consumers of marketing aren’t we aware we’re being lied to? We all still have pores, blemishes, age spots and wrinkles despite all of the promises cosmetic companies have made to us. I know my mac foundation isn’t going to make my nose smaller and my wrinkles disappear.
I think it speaks to a greater problem though. And that is: How do we make beauty marketing meaningful? Right now as consumers we know it’s currently all about figuring out the lie. Do we legislate it? Can companies be counted on for self-regulation and transparency? (I think there’s a significantly greater chance of this in an age of social marketing, and with the rapid dissemination of information on-line. But I also think I’m a bit naive.)
What do you think? Can we move to honesty in cosmetics and beauty advertising? Are we ready as a culture to accept natural bodies and faces on magazine covers and in advertising? Is this a slow shift or something we should jump into? And is this part of a greater shift of self acceptance and rejection of current unattainable standards of beauty?
