Teint Miracle – Two L’Oreal Adverts Are Banned In UK

Two make-up advertisements for L’Oreal’s Lancôme and Maybelline brands have been banned from use in the UK by the Advertising Standards Authority.

The advert for Lancôme’s ‘Teint Miracle Foundation’ and Maybelline’s ‘The Eraser’, which feature Julia Roberts and supermodel Christy Turlington respectively, were deemed to be exaggerated and misleading.

The ban came after Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson complained that the adverts were “not representative of the results the products could achieve.” She also argued that misleading advertising could contribute to body image problems, telling the BBC, “There’s a problem out there with body image and confidence. The way excessive retouching has become pervasive in our society is contributing to that problem”.

L’Oreal has admitted that the photographs were retouched but has denied that they are misleading arguing that they accurately reflect the effects of the products.

Whilst most of us are aware that make-up adverts are nearly always airbrushed, sometimes companies can take it too far, affecting our standards of expectation. What do you think? Are the adverts misleading or are we all just taking them with a pinch of salt anyway?