This advert featuring a obviously airbrushed image of Twiggy for P&G’s Olay brand has been criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). I don’t want to get all ‘Daily Mail’ about this but, FINALLY! Twiggy looks brilliant for her 60 years and it is an insult to her that they felt the need to fiddle with her image so much.
The ASA ruled that the language used in the advert was also misleading, saying, “The combination of references to ‘younger-looking eyes’ including the claim ‘Reduces the look of wrinkles and dark circles for brighter, young-looking eyes’ combined with the retouching was likely to mislead.”
No-one actually believes beauty ads 100%, but proffering these images up for general consumption is an underhand and lazy sales tactic, relying on breeding negative feelings of inadequacy to flog creams. P&G have come up with some brilliant ad campaigns, including the awards winning Dove ones, I hope this wrap on the knuckles will inspire more in that vein. – alexia inge