CoverGirl Uses False Lashes in Mascara Ad
Photo: Jezebel.com
"False" advertising? Covergirl has admitted to using fake eyelashes in its mascara ads.
Let the "backlash" begin ...
A new U.K. ad for CoverGirl's LashBlast Volume mascara features a small-print disclaimer that model Nicole Fox is wearing false lashes, the Daily Mail reports.
According to the disclaimer, America's Next Top Model winner Fox had a little help achieving her voluminous lashes.
"Lash inserts were applied to both of Nicole’s lashes to add lash count before applying mascara," it says in the fine print.
Ironically, the copy for the ad reads, "Is your volume true? Or 'false'? ... You may never go 'false' again."
While Britain's Advertising Standards Authority banned a Rimmel mascara ad for being misleading because model Georgia May Jagger was wearing fake lashes, CoverGirl has yet to face a formal questioning over its campaign.
Still, the campaign has sparked complaints from the public, including Sally Greenberg of the National Consumers League, who tells the paper that the ad should be taken down.
"It [the disclaimer] is in such tiny print that it amounts to deceptive advertising," Greenberg says. "The average person is not going to read the fine print. They are asking you to buy a product that cannot do and does not do—the model needs false eyelashes. The whole premise of the product is called into question."
Procter & Gamble, CoverGirl's parent company, has responded to the controversy with a statement asserting the accuracy of the ad.
"All of our advertising is closely reviewed by our product R&D group to ensure the images accurately communicate the primary cosmetic benefit," the statement says. "We did not use lash inserts to alter the primary benefit visualized in this ad; what you see is a realistic representation of the look women can get from using the product. We have proactively taken steps to ensure our advertising does not cause consumer confusion by adding a super."
Meanwhile, see the ad that Naomi Campbell has called "insulting and hurtful."
