The Changing Face of Beauty Advertising
With more and more cynicism over retouching and the U.K. advertising regulators cracking down on misleading claims by beauty advertisers, global and U.S. brands in the beauty category need to consider the tipping point when the status quo of “face plus slogan” no longer persuades as powerfully as it once did. Judging from a stroll through any airport duty-free store or a quick flip through the pages of any glossy gossip magazine, beauty advertising all appears homogenous and, dare I say it — boring. The diversity of consumers and brands fails to shine through — the same expressionless women in the same close-up offering the same promise appear time and time again. It seems to be a tried, tested and terrible formula, but times are changing. If the Dove “Real Beauty” campaign told us anything, it was that the consumer is watching and yearning for something different – messages they can respond to and brands they can truly believe in. Therefore, if the prevailing model of beauty adverti