The Lancôme Paris Tient Miracle foundation was recently banned by ASA for over photoshopping. The above piece claims to give beautiful skin by “aura” which is supposed to be natural light being perspired by the flesh.
The advertisement has a number of aspects that could influence individuals of the ideology it presents. Theories such as two-step flow can be seen at work here, using emotive and desirable language such as “beautiful” and “perfect skin” parallel to a supposed beauty the celebrity Julia Roberts. This combination of nudging language and the use of Julia Roberts tries to connote that these images are indexical of beauty. Beauty in this image is seen as a hierarchy, the subtle colours and flowering rose being a natural, and often thought of as a symbol of beauty and romance, this image is faded away allowing the product and this women to take dominance in the image, these connotations subject the audience to the ideology that her beauty, which is denoted to be due to the product, is far superior to the rose. This hierarchy in the image is designed to lure the audience in in order to seek this dominance in beauty and looks, playing off and perhaps a preconscious though that self worth is determined by ones aesthetics rather than achievements. The piece feeds on this insecurity of its specific audience; perhaps 26+ years old on a need to be young and beautiful in accordance to what this advert deems so. This would appeal those who probably have a regular and spendable income, perhaps full time workers who are women as this product is an expensive product from a well known brand, also the choice of model denotes the age group to her when her height of fame took place and the familiarity that group will have with her.
This advert is misleading and mere propaganda to fuel the cosmetic institutes war on self-worth. Below is and image of Julia Roberts in real life (plus make up) and Julie Roberts from the advertisement.
It is obviously over photoshopped (hence being band) however the level of it is disturbing due to the fact that it is helping to connote that the Tient Miracle foundation will give you such a flawless look. Not only has her skin been lightened and clear of any blemishes and age lines from her under eyes but her neck, her eyes have been changed, the colour enhanced her nose shape changed and mouth smoothed and shaped slightly fuller.
Is advert in short is trying to indoctrinate women into buying a product claiming to make them look like this Strange non-existent creature that bares a resemblance to Julia Roberts. Not only does this affect the way people think when buying it affects the way they think about themselves. This being picked up by the ASA only reinforces that this advert has every intention to sell a product on false pretences with the hidden agenda to make the audience aspire to be like this individual and to feel guilty and bad if they don’t.
Lancôme although a brand in its own right is under and umbrella of other companies all heading beneath the cosmetic industry seem to aim time and time again to try and convince us that we need to look like these non-existent and weird looking beings by making them symbols of beauty. The question however is why? Though there is a vast amount of answers to this one is an easy conclusion, money. If we aspire to look like something that does not exist or can only come to existence through digital and non realistic editing, then we can never reach this “pinnacle “of beauty displayed by the industry yet will buy these products feed into this idea and openly strive for these images bombarded at us, spending into it, so that more of these images are produced so that we will buy into it some more, creating a devastating circle that escalates.
For instance now if an individual feels that their desired appearance can not be achieved with chemical face painter, then they turn to the knife, making these bizarre creations a reality via plastic surgery feeding into this ideology more and affected others in an almost viral fashion, but with an ideology that makes these industries money.
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