AMiable Solution #190: As Advertised?

The next time you see a mascara ad, look for the fine print.  At least two major mascara manufacturers regularly mislead consumers with images of women with full lashes.  The problem?  Their fine print says that the models used lash inserts (false lashes) in addition to the advertised product.

Misleading?  You bet.  A problem for marketers?  Absolutely.

If you’re relying on photos, images, and graphics to sell your product or service, but the product or service is significantly enhanced in your marketing, you’re not representing your item truthfully.  That leads to disappointed and angry customers.

In November 2013, New York Times reporter Andrew Adam Newman published an article about misleading mascara ads.  The article, “Mascara Ads: Thick Lashes, Fine Print,” examined the charges made against the offending mascara manufacturers and the manufacturers’ defense of their tactics.  One company, for example, claimed that their disclosure, stating that lash inserts were used, was enough to prevent any consumer confusion. 

But Andrea Levine, Director of the National Advertising Division, disagreed.  In Newman’s article, she said that photographs in mascara ads and in ads for other cosmetics that claim performance benefits function as product demonstrations.  Consumers expect that what they see is what they will get.  Companies marketing any tangible benefits have the responsibility to back up their claims in their photos.

Do your graphics support your claims straight up?  Details of a sale or offer--the start and end dates of the sale, for example--belong in the fine print.  But if you have to visually change your product to get the results you claim in your ad, you may need to change your marketing, your product, or both.