Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

Original poster

to not understand how hair dye ads get away with such blatant misrepresentation

19 replies

SlightlyJaded · 15/05/2011 21:31

Quite possibly I am being thick here, or missing some obvious explanation but for the life of me I don't understand how cosmetic firms - in particular L'oreal - get away with the hair dye ads. I mean clearly we all kow Eva Longoria isn't at home with s plastic bag on her head dripping plum coloured L'oreal Elvive semi-permanent all over the bathroom floor, and I don't think L'oreal are patronising enough to think that we believe she is.

So how do they get away with close ups of Chezza Cole et al swishing her fucking extensions FFS tresses in front of a pack shot of 'Chestnut' in a bottle? Advertising standards? False advertising etc. No?

Disclaimer. I don't care enough to complain or anything, just curious as to how this is deemed 'fair and acceptable'.

OP posts:

TattyDevine · 15/05/2011 21:36

I dont know...is it any different to, say, the model in the Slim Fast ad being on there - has she ever done slim fast? Or is she just representing the brand?

It does rile me when you see mascara ads and they are wearing false lashes etc...

You could argue though that there's no point using a model who has actually used the dye - because the results vary depending on your original colour anyway.

Hmmm. YANBU in essence but we would be no more clued up on the results of using the product if they were to ensure the model used had applied the product so you could say its not actually in public interest to do so...

PfftTheMagicDragon · 15/05/2011 21:38

I find the "hair extensions" bit the most insulting.

TattyDevine · 15/05/2011 21:40

Also, when Cheryl Cole went red she supposedly used Mahogany 550 and did it at home.

Now I dont really believe that for a minute yet it is a believable concept - if you consider that she was chocolate brown with highlights before she went red, to get the colour she had when she was red, she would have had to use a colour very much like Mahogany 550 - not bright red but a mid to deep brown with quite a lot of red in it.

So whilst she probably didn't drip the stuff round Chéz uh, Chez, she probably had the "salon" version professionally applied to her hair (perhaps with a few foils for colour variation, though the fact that she had prelightened sections could have taken care of the colour variation to be fair)

vajazzhands · 15/05/2011 21:41

mascara ads are the worst.

false lashes then enhanced in post production

TattyDevine · 15/05/2011 21:42

They shouldn't use hair extensions for volumising products or styling products, but for hair dye - you can have hair extensions and dye your hair so its not majorly misrepresentative. They are not claiming the dye gives you thick lusterous hair, only a certain colour and colour retention etc...

Makeminealarge · 15/05/2011 21:43

To my recollection tho, they get 'away' with it by using a disclaimer during the ad at the bottom of the screen saying something along the lines of 'enhanced by extensions' blah der blah.

Still. mascara ads pee me off. Everytime i see an ad, as the usual sucker i am for advertising, i go 'ooh, that one looks go' buy one, go home try it, ver disappointed five mins later.

strandedbear · 15/05/2011 21:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

manticlimactic · 15/05/2011 21:45

It says on the latest one with Gwen Steffani that her hair has been pre-lightened.

I always read the small writing on adverts actually I actively seek them out and now my DD does this too. The mascara ones are worst. They enhance in post production.

Original poster

SlightlyJaded · 15/05/2011 22:05

Yes mascara advertising is worse. Ludicrous.

And I always snigger at the Reece Witherspoon / Avon advert. I like the idea of her buying a lippy from a random on her doorstep.

OP posts:

AuraofDora · 15/05/2011 22:10

yes they should be made to show you them in their bathroom with plastic bag dripping in plum dye and the forehead dribbles..
yanbu op this is shite and does not work, and is why people pay good money if they can to hairdresser so not to do just this..

PfftTheMagicDragon · 16/05/2011 07:52

manti - i also read all the small print.

My favourites are the survey ones. When they start with

88% OF WOMEN AGREE THAT WE ARE THE BEST THING SINCE JESUS

And then when you read the small print it says that they surveyed 102 women, and 54% of those were users of the product, and of those 54%, 88% of those would say that it didn't cause their scalp to flake off or something like that

Punkatheart · 16/05/2011 07:59

Another secret - their hair is sprained with silicone - which makes it shine more. Also, chocolate in ads is never chocolate - they melt under lights - it is a gloopy chemical concoction made by modelmakers. My OH is a prop person and you would be amazed at the lies (I mean tricks) they use to sell you that product. The mascara ones are soooo stupid. I know it's a wand but it doesn't do magic!!

BTW, is anyone else incensed by the Sure advert - making women wear bells so that they KNOW HOW MUCH THEY MOVE. FFS!! Give me back the lying ones!

Clytaemnestra · 16/05/2011 08:12

Punkatheart - I used to have a big food manufacturer as a client and I was SHOCKED when I found out all the tricks the photographers use to make food look good in photos [naive account exec emoticon]

My favourite was the mesh over the bowl before you poured the soup in, so all the lovely bits stay at the top and it looks like it's full to the brim of lovely bits of meat and veg rather than just held on the top. But, you're not showing extra bits added in, so not lying and in need of a disclaimer. :)

CaveMum · 16/05/2011 08:21

The best ad "tricks" I've heard are:

Roast chickens are painted with varnish to give them consistent Holden colour.

Ice cream (like chocolate) will melt under lights so they often use mashed potato! Yummy!

Bubbaluv · 16/05/2011 08:22

I like the ones that tell you what % more radiant your skin will look in a week.
As far as I know there are no laws limiting the BS that the cosmetics/beauty industry can shovel in their ads.

Punkatheart · 16/05/2011 08:30

Photographing food is an art - they take it really seriously! Especially high end like M & S....

Some companies do get pulled up but they often pay the fine - they have already sold lots of product......

Meglet · 16/05/2011 08:33

Did anyone else see the Britney ad where 2 versions ended up going public. One was the air-brushed version and one was the real Britney.

All the ads are airbrushed. I don't believe a thing they say.

thederkinsdame · 16/05/2011 08:39

The bits that get me are the pseudo-scientific close-up illustrations of your pores or hair with terms such as 'the only product to contain alphamerdapolyhydrate which penetrates the pores to cleanse and renew your...(fill in the blank here) see the visible difference in just one minute'

Yer right.

TrillianAstra · 16/05/2011 08:43

"Most women agreed"

57% of 13 women, who were given this to try for free, when asked if they liked it said it was Good or OK.

My demands for mascara adverts - show me a woman with no other makeup. Put mascara on one eye and not the other. Film from a number of angles. Market as "so good we don't need to use any tricks".

Flip