Rimmel London has come under fire after an ad featuring Cara Delevingne was banned in the United Kingdom for exaggerating the effects of the brand's ScandalEyes Mascara.
The ad, which came out in December, claims that the mascara creates
"dangerously bold lashes" with "extreme volume," and shows Delevingne
applying the product to achieve those exact results. Her lashes look
seriously longer and thicker, but as it turns out it wasn't just the mascara that was giving her lashes their bold look.
[post_ads]According to a report by The Guardian,
the U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) claims that the brand
exaggerated the "effects the product was capable of achieving" by using
"post-production techniques" to make Delevingne's lashes look fuller and
longer, which is the exact effect of the mascara advertised by Rimmel
London.
Coty U.K., the company that owns Rimmel London,
admitted to using false lashes to "fill in the gaps and create a uniform
lash line" and said that post-production techniques were used only to
"redraw" some of Delevingne's natural lashes that weren't visible
because of her dark eye shadow, according to BuzzFeed News.
The company even provided the ASA with before and after photos of the
model's lashes, but the agency was adamant that the ad "exaggerates the
effect beyond what could be achieved by the product among consumers" and
banned it from the air, BuzzFeed reports.
This isn't the first time the brand's U.K. division has found itself in this type of situation: Back in 2010, the ASA banned an ad
for the brand's "1, 2, 3 Looks" featuring Georgia May Jagger after it
admitted enhancing her lashes with artificial inserts. Dior Beauty faced
a similar situation in 2010 when Natalie Portman was found to be
wearing fake lashes in one of the brand's mascara advertisements, Fashionista reported at the time.
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"Because
the ad conveyed a volumizing, lengthening, and thickening effect of the
product, we considered the use of lash inserts and the post-production
technique were likely to exaggerate the effect beyond what could be
achieved by the product among consumers," the ASA said in a statement.
"We therefore concluded the ad was misleading."
The ad
has been pulled from the air, and there's no word on whether any further
action will be taken. You can see it for yourself below.
By Zoe Weiner
Courtesy Allure
