The complaint was made to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) by a member of the public, as well as Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson, who complained earlier this year to get two other L’Oréal magazine adverts banned for being unrealistic.
This time Swinson’s complaint was that magazine and press ads for L’Oréal’s Lancôme mascara, featuring models showing off the doll lash effect, were misleading because they exaggerated the effect of the product beyond what the ordinary consumer could achieve.
L’Oréal responds with evidence
L'Oréal UK responded by saying the image used was of styled and professionally photographed models, and that they had tried to ensure the image did not exaggerate the effect of the product.
Lancôme also provided a lab report stating the efficacy of the product as well as results from consumer testing to back up its claims.
“Post production techniques were used to add length to some individual lashes to create a uniform lash line effect and to tidy up the look of the lashes, which included replacing damaged or missing lashes, but volume (lash thickness) had not been added,” said a statement provided along with before and after shots of the image used.
This time the cosmetic firm wins
This time ASA sided with the cosmetics firm acknowledging that consumers expected images used in ads for beauty products to have used professional styling and photography, and agreeing that no other foul play had occurred, backed up by the evidence provided.
“We considered that the length of the lashes shown in the ad did not go beyond likely consumer expectations of what was achievable using the product, and that the effect shown was in line with the tests on actual consumers,” it said.
ASA concluded that Lancôme had demonstrated that the ad accurately illustrated what the product could achieve therefore not upholding Swinson’s complaint and letting the ad stand.
Swinson’s previous success had been in July in her appeal to ban ad campaigns for L’Oreal’s Lancôme and Maybelline magazine adverts, arguing that the images were overly airbrushed.
The MP, who set up the all-party parliamentary group on body image earlier in the year, will be chairing an inquiry later this month to investigate the causes and consequences of body anxiety. The inquiry, which will report next summer, will call on companies including Boots, WeightWatchers and Transform Cosmetic Surgery to give evidence.