Understanding the hype

If you don’t understand how the cosmetics industry works—the good, the bad, and the ugly—you will be a victim of its advertising manipulations, exaggerations, and deceptions, and that isn’t good for your skin or your budget.

I had an interesting discussion with a producer of an infomercial as I was finishing up the last chapter for this book before it went to press. Because of confidentiality I can’t tell you which one, but it really doesn’t matter because they are all the same and they all mislead or deceive or lie through their teeth in the same way. This producer knew that the script she was going to be videotaping was mostly misleading or untrue. Don’t get me wrong: She was very nice and she appreciated my research and critique of the topic, but of course there was nothing she could do about it. And nothing I could do either.

What most women don’t realize is how everyone in the cosmetics industry knows that the marketing and advertising for cosmetics is either meaningless, hypocritical, or dishon­est. That fashion magazines are hamstrung by their advertisers and can’t report “beauty” information objectively. They can’t disagree with their advertisers. The reporters, producers, and editors all know it. They all talk about it and then shrug their shoulders and say, well, it’s a living. Or they laugh about it. Ultimately, they all know women are being suckered into products that can’t possibly perform as the claims on the label assert.

Updated: September 10, 2015 — 5:40 am