Quite recently, at about late July 2011, the Advertising Standards Authority in the United Kingdom banned two advertisements by L’Oreal due to the over-exaggeration of its images. The photos were allegedly retouched to the point where they did not clearly represent the results that the serums could produce. L’Oreal admitted that they had in fact done retouches to “lighten the skin, clean up make-up, reduce dark shadows and shading around the eyes, smooth the lips and darken the eyebrows” on the advertisement featuring Christy Turlington.
Is it ethical for these makeup companies to use retouching to exaggerate or even misrepresent their products? Retouching is hardly an obscure issue any longer but are consumers truly taking these advertisements with a grain of salt? Could these photos depicting unattainable perfection in the features pose as a source of insecurity for young women reading these beauty magazines in which they are advertised? These large makeup companies assert that any supposed adverse effects produced are false. Certainly light retouching is not illegal by any means however it is still unethical to use technology to exaggerate the effects of a product and therefore inciting the consumer to be more inclined to purchase the product.