Seeing that today’s technology has advanced so rapidly, more and more visual media we perceive has become deceptive. In order to advertise for their products, companies now use a great amount of editing mechanisms to produce artificial and exaggerated advertisements.
L’Oreal (a French cosmetics group), for instance, used an excessive amount of Photoshop editing to exaggerate the effects of their mascara products. These advertisements, however, have been taken down by the US National Advertising Division, a group that has been banning Photoshop in Cosmetic Ads since 2011. The advertisement of the anti-wrinkle cream, another of L’Oreal’s products, was also said to be misleading and was later on banned in the UK.
Personally, I believe businesses should not use any Photoshop or editing mechanism in their advertisements seeing that it demos the qualities that the actual product does not hold. Not only are they misleading, it is also unethical to deceive the consumers into buying the product. And even though the company may benefit in the short term (if the product sells well), they will eventually ruin their own reputation in the long run.
—————————————–
Sources:
L’Oreal’s Mascara Ads: http://www.businessinsider.com/loreal-pulled-mascara-ads-because-of-photoshop-2013-3?op=1
L’Oreal’s Anti-aging Cream Ad: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-was-this-rachel-weisz-ad-banned-in-britain-2012-2
Hi Debbie! <3
I agree. This isn’t the first time an ad for a product has used excessive amounts of Photoshop on either the effects of the product or on the models themselves. It gives the consumers a false idea of what their money is getting them. There is a line between putting a positive spin on a product and falsifying the results altogether.