A couple of recent stories have gotten me thinking about hypocrisy in the beauty industry. Certainly you’ve heard the news that the photos of the “real women” in the Dove Real Beauty campaign may have been
digitally altered. If true, this would seem hypocritical because they complain most companies use touched up models to sell their products while they do exactly the same thing except with chubbier, less attractive models. Of course, the company is mostly denying it, but what else can they do? Close-up photographs of real people never look as good as ones that have been touched up. Freckles, acne, wrinkles and age-spots don’t work in magazine ads.
Natural Hypocrites
The other story was one about the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) attacking “natural” companies for using raw materials that contain a potential carcinogen. It seems that companies like Jason Natural & Organic, Kiss My Face and Nature’s Gate Organic all use ethoxylated ingredients that have trace amounts of 1,4-Dioxane. The OCA believes it’s hypocritical to say you are natural, but still contain supposedly dangerous ingredients. While we disagree about the danger posed by trace amounts of 1,4-Dioxane, we can see the OCA’s point. It does seem hypocritical.
Getting what they deserve
It just goes to show you how difficult it is to build a brand by tearing other people’s products down. Photos can always be made more “real”. Cosmetic formulas can always be made “safer”.
Companies that claim to more real or safer than others are just setting themselves up for being exposed as hypocrites.
I for one am happy to see it. Perhaps next time they’ll focus on the good features of their products instead of what they think are bad features of their competitors.
Are the Beauty Brains Hypocrites?
Incidentally, we hear the claim on the Beauty Brains every so often that we are hypocrites because we accept advertising for products. We whole-heartedly disagree with this. While it is true that we do accept advertising and also get money for some affiliate programs, we don’t believe this is hypocritical because we do not allow the fact that a product is advertised on our website to cloud what we say about them If we don’t believe a product like Pink Patch weight loss, Kinoki Foot pads, or Jan Marini eyelash thickeners work, we’ll tell you.
However, we’ll accept ads from them and if you’re going to buy them, that’s fine with us. It is up to you to use your brain when making purchasing decision. We’re not here to tell you what to do. We’re here to help you make an informed decision. If you want to buy Meladerm or Thermaclear based on what we say, that is up to you.
There is one line of hypocrisy that we will not cross. The Beauty Brains will not make their own line of cosmetics. While it could easily be done, we believe it would create an unavoidable bias that would taint the information you get here on the Beauty Brains. The information, the science is what is important. That’s why the only products you’ll ever get from the Beauty Brains are books and other information products. And these are the only products we endorse.
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The problem seems to be that while we whine about how photos are retouched, we’re usually less inclined to purchase products with ads that are not as aesthetically appealing. At least I’m speaking for myself.
Yeah. The whole point of cosmetics when you get right down to it is to look like something other than yourself. And I hear a lot of women talking about the unfairness of the industry, and then in the next breath how they love those digital photo morphing things online that supposedly take ten pounds off your picture or how “fat” so and so looked on the red carpet at the Oscars. *shrug*
How true this article is, it is to the point that it makes you want to throw up.
The sad part is, that a LOT of women and men believe that these people REALLY do look that way. No scars, no pimples, no lines, or frown marks, NO loose skin- Just really good looking men and women — on the covers of Redbook, Ladies Home Journal- Photos of Sally Feild- ALSO the gal that just got over losing those unwanted pounds, for weight watchers– Where did all that loose skin Go? And those teeth, so White that they glisten on the front page- come on give us a break ladies, get real for a change. I must say I have come to admire = Jamie Lee Curtis, for her stand on getting real and putting it out there as it really is.
It actually creeps me out that women take that stuff seriously. It’s almost scary how those images can become realer than reality. We see women’s faces around us every day and even in the mirror — how on Earth can we possibly imagine that Jennifer Lopez and that Gisele woman have no pores at all? Don’t we see our own faces when we look in the mirror for pete’s sake? Or our friends’ faces over lunch or something? How can these images be realer to us than ourselves?
There is a lot that can be done in photographing a model as far as makeup, lighting (hey, if you were made up, styled and posed by a team of professionals under $30,000 worth of studio lighting, you’d look great too!), camera angles, fans, wardrobe styling, etc. without digital alteration.
Anne — that’s very true. They only have to look good for 1/500th of a second from that one angle.
I remember a woman online on a long hair care board I used to participate in talking about something she saw there they took a picture of a model whose hair looked fabulous in the picture. They took a picture from the back — they had literally puffed it up with toilet paper rolls, tinfoil … all to get it to look perfect from one angle.
I work in the field of cosmetic surgery marketing, and I completely agree with what Diya says – sex sells and beauty = bucks. The company I work for has even done surveys to determine people’s reaction to model photos vs. photos of real people, and it’s not even close: people like to look at other really beautiful people. It may seem strange in this era of “reality TV,” but there it is. That’s why you’ll see models all over the fashion mags, the TV ads for products like Juvederm, and even our own sites, like this one for a facial plastic surgeon in Naples, Florida. As part of the marketing industry, we have to do the things that get a response from people who will consider the services we offer, and even though we would LOVE to show more real folks and get away from this rigid beauty ideal, people tell us that’s just not what they want unfortunately.