
I am catching up on my November
Allure magazine and I spy a pretty picture of Drew Barrymore hawking Cover Girl Mascara. As usual, her lashes are beyond 'just mascara', which has been a HUGE pet peeve of mine for years. Lo and behold, I spy a disclaimer in tiny print that says:
Lash inserts used prior to application to add fullness but not length. Knock me over with a feather! I have never understood how cosmetic companies got away with using obviously fake eyelashes in their mascara ads.
I scratched my head for a moment and wondered WHY Cover Girl finally started admitting they use falsies on their models. Then I remembered a
post I did a few weeks back about the FTC cracking down on companies that made unsubstantiated claims, including going after their celebrity spokesmodels. The UK has had a similar law in effect for a while and has busted
Rimmel and L'oreal in the past.The ASA (similar to our FTC) laid down the law on adding disclaimers to ads: "We told L’Oreal to include a disclaimer in future ads featuring models wearing false eyelashes, irrespective of whether those lashes were individually inserted to bring lashes to a consistent standard or whether they were a full set of false lashes. We also told them to ensure future ads made clear that the "up to 60%" claim referred to the appearance of the lashes, not to an actual extension in the length of lashes that could be achieved by using the mascara.
We also told L'Oreal to take greater care in future to provide us promptly with accurate information."
I'm going to start checking for the fineprint on ALL the cosmetic ads I run across to see if I can spot some more disclaimers. More fun than hunting for Easter Eggs!