Commercials....Argh!

[Steel]

I am a fine print type of gal and am getting frustrated with some beauty commercials.

For example, L''Oreal hair dye has the beautiful Eva L. Parker swishing her beautiful locks about telling me how she loves the hair dye. Then then you read the fine print it says, Eva - styles with some natural hair extenstions coloured with blah blah hair dye.
Same with those mascara ads where they have beautiful women like that bollywood actress batting her eyelashes at me which look impossibly full and dramatic, then the fine print says styled with false lashes. Oh and the ads that say - enhanced post production...

Now I am pleased that the advertisers acknowledge their tinkering, we knew they did it all along but it annoys me more that they say it outright. I feel like they are saying ''buy me Im a great product'' and then say ''well actually this product will not look like this, at all, really''.

Regarding celeb endorsements, I feel concerned about well known (esp older celebs) endorsing financial products etc. I think there should be some sort of ''put your mony where your mouth is''. The companies use celebs because their public profile engenders confidence but then the celeb has no liability if the product is a bit shady. We have well known and loved celebs advertising personal injury solicitors, ''whole of life insurance policies'' and loans, some of which are certainly not the most equitable on the market. I worry that less savy consumers or older consumers will ''trust'' the celeb they know and love assuming they endorse it because it is a good product, not because they get paid to.

I know, buyer beware. But it gets my goat.

What do you think... Sometimes I would love to see an ad that come on, says BUY HERBAL ESSENCES, THANK YOU, and move on to the next ad. We are not fools and know we will not have an *rgasm using herbal essences shampoo...

Advertisments...do they annoy you?

 

[meresal]

Date: 11/22/2008 5:17:00 PM
Author:Steel
I am a fine print type of gal and am getting frustrated with some beauty commercials.

For example, L'Oreal hair dye has the beautiful Eva L. Parker swishing her beautiful locks about telling me how she loves the hair dye. Then then you read the fine print it says, Eva - styles with some natural hair extenstions coloured with blah blah hair dye.
Same with those mascara ads where they have beautiful women like that bollywood actress batting her eyelashes at me which look impossibly full and dramatic, then the fine print says styled with false lashes. Oh and the ads that say - enhanced post production...

Now I am pleased that the advertisers acknowledge their tinkering, we knew they did it all along but it annoys me more that they say it outright. I feel like they are saying 'buy me Im a great product' and then say 'well actually this product will not look like this, at all, really'.

Regarding celeb endorsements, I feel concerned about well known (esp older celebs) endorsing financial products etc. I think there should be some sort of 'put your mony where your mouth is'. The companies use celebs because their public profile engenders confidence but then the celeb has no liability if the product is a bit shady. We have well known and loved celebs advertising personal injury solicitors, 'whole of life insurance policies' and loans, some of which are certainly not the most equitable on the market. I worry that less savy consumers or older consumers will 'trust' the celeb they know and love assuming they endorse it because it is a good product, not because they get paid to.

I know, buyer beware. But it gets my goat.

What do you think... Sometimes I would love to see an ad that come on, says BUY HERBAL ESSENCES, THANK YOU, and move on to the next ad. We are not fools and know we will not have an *rgasm using herbal essences shampoo...

Advertisments...do they annoy you?

I don't really have an opinion regarding the fine print. My eyelashes have never looked like the commercials, and the fakies were never a secret.

However, I was an advertising major for a little over a year, and there is a law stating that any celebrity that endorses a product, must actually use that product. I'm not sure how well they monitor this, but it is indeed a law. I'll try and rummage the wording up on the internet...

ETA: Can't find article anywhere, but I remember going over it. May have been geared more towards ethichs in business than an actual set law. Sorry about that.

 

[Elmorton]

I guess it doesn''t bug me that much...it does crack me up how pharm. companies have figured out creative ways to have the narrator/actors tell you all the fine print info - esp in the commercial with the bratty woman and her two friends talking about Yaz, where, after rattling off the info about how you can get pregnant, have headaches, blood clots, and perhaps die, the main woman flips her hair and says "I didn''t go to med school for nothing!" It''s so awfully bad.

The commercial that really stunned me with a celebrity was the one on ESPN radio where some former athlete was endorsing a company that would protect you from identity theft, so he said his real social security number in the commercial. Apparently, crooks were smart and used it anyway - successfully. Whoops. I think DH told me that commercial is no longer on air.

 

[joflier]

The false lashes for mascara adds do bug me. But I guess, that''s just the nature of the biz.
And I just get annoyed in general by all the drug ads. Tv, magazines, whatever. Hello, people!!! THEY ARE DRUGS! Its not like trying on different shades of lipstick, here.