Issue link: https://www.ascpskindeepdigital.com/i/1191176
find your dream career! ascpskincare.com/career-toolkits 47 Exclusive is a funny word in the beauty industry. It can have a positive or negative connotation. Exclusive can imply that something is high-end and desirable, but it can also mean that someone is deliberately being left out—or worse, that a product or service is not for certain people. Today, we're generally more inclusive, and we are much more cognizant of exclusive advertising tactics. But we can still be vulnerable to some nefarious advertising strategies. Body Shaming Unfortunately, body shaming is an instrument advertisers continue to use to promote products. We are inundated with perfectly airbrushed models representing impossible standards of beauty. And, with the growing popularity of social media filters, we can actually advertise to ourselves all of our flaws—a wrinkle here, cellulite there, sparse eyelashes, the wrong skin tone. If we only had the right product, we could look so much better! Color Blindness Skin diversity—or the lack thereof—is also an area of advertising that sends the wrong message. Although companies have become more diverse and inclusive, as late as the 20th century, women of color were made to believe that lightening their skin was their best shot at being beautiful and successful. When it comes to beauty products today, women of color have many more choices, but advertisers still make clumsy mistakes. One such misstep was artificially lightening Beyoncé's skin in a L'Oréal ad. Ageism The invisibility of older women, particularly in the beauty industry, is a reflection of an antiquated social assumption—one that says a woman grows up, attracts a man, gets married, becomes a parent (then a grandparent), fades into the background, and ultimately vanishes. When it comes to beauty advertising, many women feel ignored. And, as women age, they sometimes feel irrelevant. Today, younger women are still modeling for product ads aimed at more mature adults. Self-Esteem Damage Because we all want to fit in, we want to see models in advertising who look like us. It makes us feel beautiful; it makes us feel that we belong. When we don't see ourselves in ads or commercials, self- esteem can suffer. Advertisers have long been accused of creating anxiety and promoting envy, thereby affecting us emotionally. Marketers argue that they're only providing a mirror to society's values—that they're selling what consumers want. Through advertising, we're typically only seeing a narrow representation of beauty. So, what happens when we compare ourselves with that manufactured perfection? We feel unattractive and our self-image and self- esteem takes a hit. False Claims Over the years, the beauty industry has been one of the biggest offenders of spouting exaggerated claims. Marketers sell idealized perfection, and we desperately want to believe their claims. False claims were the norm until recently. Fortunately, these trends are shifting, primarily because consumers are pushing back, which brings us to the topic of inclusion. Exclusive Advertising