The skin I live in

The cosmetics industry comes up against a great deal of flack for false promises. We’ve all heard about the mascara ads banned by the ASA for crafty photo shopping, using false eyelashes and other strategies. Despite this, I’m pretty confident that most ads in this space are decent, honest and truthful. It’s a tricky area as most women are buying a dream and do want to suspend disbelief to a certain extent when buying the latest new product. And many products do deliver results and so build up a hugely loyal fanbase. I buy Nuxe, La Roche-Posay and Chantecaille products again and again because they perform brilliantly. I could name many more that do the same.

Photo taken of the sk:n display window

Photo taken of the sk:n display window

In other words, I’m one of the biggest beauty product advocates out there. However I saw something that truly shocked me when I was walking around Holborn the other day. It was the window display for a skin clinic and if it has been an ad in a glossy magazine I think it would have been banned. I’m guessing the legislation around window advertising is quite different to that for print, so it’s probably a question of buyer beware. Take a look at the images in question. Is the supplier of these beauty services seriously suggesting that the effects of age can be reversed as dramatically as the picture suggests? To my mind it’s irresponsible advertising, but why don’t you judge for yourself.