By: Giovanni Gonzalez
giovanni.gonzalez@fiusm.com
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, especially when it comes to advertising. Models in many fashion and cosmetic ads are enhanced with Photoshop, but advertisers have taken the technique so far that action is being taken to regulate its use.
After agreeing to never run a mascara ad again because of unrealistic post-production enhancement, Procter & Gamble became the latest target of a move by U.S. and international advertising regulators to ban Photoshop from advertisements when it is misleading to consumers. The aim of NAD (National Advertising Division) is to make cosmetic ads more honest for the consumer. The debate about Photoshopping ads has been around for a long time, and NAD has begun taking baby steps to remedy the situation after recent successes on similar issues in the U.K.
NAD, which has close ties to FTC (Federal Trade Commission), is accountable for holding advertisers responsible for their ads.
There are many laws in place to limit false advertising, and NAD has the power to fine or bring injunctions against any advertisers using misleading ads.
Procter & Gamble’s retracted ad involved mascara that promised “2X more volume” and a model with digitally enhanced eye lashes. Although the ad noted that the model was enhanced, the ad failed to depict accurate results of the product’s use.
NAD director Andrea Levine said, “You can’t use a photograph to demonstrate how a cosmetic will look after it is applied to a woman’s face and then – in the mice type – have a disclosure that says ‘okay, not really.’” Most, if not all, cosmetic ads use some form of post-production enhancement and many do note it in the fine print.
Lauren Gomez, a business major, said, “I don’t really care too much that they enhance the ads because I don’t try to live up to those ridiculous standards, but when the ad portrays a certain result and the product doesn’t deliver, it is hard not to feel ripped off.”
But this is not to say that Photoshopping in ads will be banned all together, as there is a difference between fixing a model’s natural flaws and drawing on completely new features.
If the ban goes through, we may see a more honest generation of cosmetic advertising, and the consumer will no longer be subjected to inaccurate depictions of how a particular product should deliver. “If ads are more honest, companies may even sell more products,” Gomez said.
College-aged women make up a large share of the consumer base for cosmetics and are targeted by many ads. Katherine Merlo, a psychology major, said, “I would like to see all Photoshopping banned from cosmetic ads.
Not only will it give [a] girl’s self-esteem a break by not being bombarded by images of impossibly good-looking models, but the ads will also give an accurate description of the product.” Advertisers are taking the misdirection and manipulation present in almost all ads a bit too far, and it should stop for the benefit of the consumer.
Rulings in the U.K. and U.S. found that Photoshopping images in ads makes them misleading. In addition to banning misleading Photoshopping in ads, FTC has also tightened regulations that hold celebrities accountable for making claims in ads that they know cannot be true.
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