Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington L'Oréal Ads Banned

Maybe she's born with it...Maybe it's airbrushed!

The Guardian reported that the Standards Authority in the U.K. has pulled L'Oréal ads featuring overly airbrushed Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington.  The ban upholds complaints from Liberal Democrat member of parliament Jo Swinson.  Swinson's fight against "overly perfected and unrealistic images" of women in advertising resulted in complaints with the Advertising Standards Authority about the campaigns for L'Oréal brands Lancôme and Maybelline.  The ASA banned the ads from publication for breaching the advertising standards code for their exaggeration and misleading images.

The Julia Roberts ad promoted Teint Miracle foundation which alleged to create "natural light," while the Christy Turlington ad pushed The Eraser foundation as an "anti-ageing" product.  Swinson explained the ads were "not representative of the results the products could achieve". The ASA was unable to view pre-production images due to a contactual agreement with Roberts. Swinson commented, "It shows just how ridiculous things have become when there is such fear over an unairbrushed photo that even the advertising regulator isn't permitted to see it."

The ASA said, "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 not been exaggerated by digital post-production techniques." 

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