Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington Ads for L'Oreal Banned for 'Misleading' in U.K.

By Emma Koonse, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, July 28, 2011

L’Oreal advertisements featuring Julia Roberts and supermodel Christy Turlington has been banned by the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency for being "overly airbrushed."

Britain’s Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson, who has led a long-running campaign against altering images in advertisements, is the person who originally filed the complaint against the airbrushing.

L’Oreal’s Lancôme brand featured Roberts in an advertisement for their foundation product, Teint Miracle. Turlington modeled The Eraser, an anti-ageing foundation for another L’Oreal brand, Maybelline.

The French make-up company admitted that the images were digitally manipulated and retouched, but staunchly denies that the ads were misleading. The company claims they “accurately illustrated” the effects of their products, and that the image of Roberts, taken by celebrity photographer Mario Testino, was an “aspirational picture.”

According to Swinson, the L’Oreal adverts were “not representative of the results the product could achieve.”

The politician teamed up with the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) out of concern over the ever-growing problems with body image and confidence of the advertisement’s young audiences.

“The way excessive retouching has become pervasive in our society is contributing to the problem,” Swinson told BBC.

“We should have some honesty in advertising and that’s exactly what the ASA is there to do. I’m delighted they’ve upheld these complaints,” Swinson adds.

Chief Executive of the ASA, Guy Parker told the BBC that advertisements could only be banned if they were offensive, misleading, or harmful, and that airbrushing was a “question of degree.”

The ASA ruled that, “On the basis of the evidence we had received we could not conclude that the ad image accurately illustrated what effect the product could achieve, and that the image had been exaggerated by digital post production techniques.”

ASA therefore pulled L’Oreal adverts from publication.

The L’Oreal images were banned because the company could not show exactly how much retouching had occurred, which is a requirement for cosmetic advertisements, said Parker.

“Advertisers must be able to provide appropriate material to us to demonstrate what retouching they’ve done in the event we question them, and they mustn’t mislead,” he added.

Swinson said, “Excessive airbrushing has become the norm, but both Christy Turlington and Julia Roberts are naturally beautiful women who don’t need retouching to look great.”

Both L’Oreal brands, Maybelline and Lancôme, insist that their products were scientifically proven to work, and that they were “disappointed” that the ASA banned the ads.

The brands highlighted their positive consumer ratings, which display that users are satisfied with the make-up product’s results.

L’Oreal advertisements have been on the ASA’s radar in previous years. In 2007, the advertising regulator disapproved of L’Oreal’s television advertisement for mascara featuring Penelope Cruz on the basis that it was made unclear that Cruz was wearing fake eye lashes in the commercial.

Last year, the ASA overturned complaints about the French company’s adverts for hair, ruling that the product’s benefits had not been exaggerated in that case.