You Can’t Hide Your Lyin’ Eyes

Buzzing across the beauty blogsphere today is the news that magazine and television ads for “Magnif’eyes” mascara were banned after complaints from viewers that the eyelashes their model wore in the campaign were fake (view the ad here). The agency behind the campaign denied that the eyelashes were fake but did not back up this claim with any documentary evidence from the shoot. They did admit that the model’s lashes were “cleaned up and enhanced” but did not provide further explanation. The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) thought that the ad was in breach of advertising rules by using images that may have exaggerated the product’s benefits and by referring to a change in appearance not just lash length by promising "70 per cent more lash lift". The current ads are banned by the ASA and the company must add disclaimers to future ads letting the public know if the model’s appearance was enhanced with post production techniques or false eyelashes. This is and interesting precedent to set because, I don't know about you, but to us it looks like many models in mascara ad campaigns are sporting lashes that are too good to be true. What do you think? -Jennifer Appenrodt, Sephora