Comments on: Should deceptive mascara ads be legal?

By: Jeremy @ GoldFigure

Jeremy @ GoldFigure — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:17:47 +0000

But… it’s always worth a rant in the UK to the Advertising Standards Agency. When BT launched 2Meg broadband years ago they claimed it meant sharing photos was now 8x faster. I wrote to ASA pointing out that the upload was the same speed so sharing could not be 8x quicker. My complaint was upheld and BT were forced to pull the add.

By: Jeremy @ GoldFigure

Jeremy @ GoldFigure — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:13:53 +0000

Yay! – A woman who sees the light. There is a reason why most men’s ads don’t have the disclaimers… they keep it simple. Shave with one of these and you could be a billionaire sportsman who conducts extra-marital affairs before driving his car into a tree.

So – volume. I’ve got to be a bit geek here. If your eyelash has a radius of 1 elu (eye lash unit) then it’s cross section is (Pi * 1^2) elu squared which is 3.15159265 (sadly I didn’t have to look that up). If we’re not adding length then 9x volume means it’s now 28-odd elu squared which gives a new radius of 3 elu.

Once again it’s down to the ditsy image obsessed Dorris to work out, in amongst the bright flashing lights and celebrity images, that in-fact this just makes your eyelashes thicker by smearing them with gloopy crap that runs down your cheeks when you work out how much you’ve been fleeced through your lack of common sense.

I don’t have a bee in my bonnet about this… honest.

By: Brandi

Brandi — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:42:12 +0000

I think we should file a class action lawsuit. I think this is ridiculous and that they are selling lies.

By: arisu

arisu — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:11:12 +0000

I think in a way it shouldn’t because people get too obsessed and they will think that people from the magazines really look like that when they don’t. And men believe such things a lot too! Then if you don’t look like a FHM girl cover it’s insane it’s like people have this distorted perception of what is real… But what you are saying about this ads I guess even wit hthe ads i wouldn’t believe because clearly she’s wearing fake eyelashes on that one lol those don’t seem real eyelashes for damn sure. I got big eyelashes and I don’t think even mine would look like that.

By: Ed Lui

Ed Lui — Sat, 16 May 2009 12:02:14 +0000

This is too funny Amy, but so true at the same time… now, what were you about to say about wrinkle cremes?

By: Samantha

Samantha — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 07:23:41 +0000

It’s sad how people will compare themselves to edited photos. Perfection (not just in the area of appearance) is unattainable, yet we still try to grasp at it. My eyelashes actually are as long as the the girl’s in the second ad, but they are not full like that. And without mascara, the blond tips of my lashes are not seen.

I know the tricks of advertising, yet I fall for it most of the time…as one who acts on emotion.

By: Graham Jeffries

Graham Jeffries — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 04:03:36 +0000

I know the Canadian Advertising Code of Standards (found at: http://www.adstandards.com/en/consumerSite/14CodeClauses.pdf ) has a clause of Unacceptable Depictions and Portrayals. However, the International standard if different. In the high-fashion world of Britain and New York it is probably more suggested to heighten the product’s effect.
Again, they are only codes and it can be legitimized that high-fashion markets will allow unrealistic portrayals of human parts. Look at the Dove ‘True Beauty’ ad and see the amount of Photoshop allowed in an everyday ad.

However, I do feel there is an unjustified claim by the advertisers. I don’t even think people can have 250+ eyelashes.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:18:18 +0000

Should it be illegal? I don’t know.

Are the advertisers clever? Abso-bloody-lutely!

You see, although people with a mind of their own like yourself can see right through this bullshit, these adverts aren’t aimed at you. They are aimed at ditzy image-obsessed airheads. The type that can be distracted by pretty celebrities and bright colours so they won’t notice the legally required “Lash inserts used” or “Images enhanced in post-production” notices that almost always appear along side these images. The type that make up a huge part of these companies’ markets.

Since it has become a legar requirement for these companies to display these notices they have become masters of misdirection. After all, there’s no law against producing an advert that distracts viewers from the big text notice that basically says “We’re lying”.

By: Steve D

Steve D — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:05:46 +0000

One of my favourite things to do is watch ads, but only reading the bottom of the screen. These ads (particularly beauty ones) always have ridiculous disclaimers like your mascara ad it might say something like “eyelash extensions used” or in hair ads it sometimes says “hair extensions used.” Then again I don’t see McDonalds burger ads saying “not fully cooked burger” which they never are.

It seems in certain cases you can pretty much say what you want in adverts as long as you put some kind of get out clause underneath!