At the end of last week I was watching a documentary on UK comedy sketch show Not The Nine O’Clock News, when a picture from a magazine cover of the leading female star, Pamela Stephenson, appeared on the screen. It struck me how incredibly authentic and natural, yet still amazingly beautiful the image was. You could see the fine lines of her forehead, the signs of tiredness under her eyes and the light glow of oily skin on her forehead, yet it was still captivating as she’s a beautiful, real woman. I thought how wonderfully aspirational the picture was and how it would’ve been a great image for women to find beauty in; it was the total antithesis of the freakish, doll-like imagery we find in magazines nowadays – pictures that have been so severely airbrushed that they no longer look human, and it’s sad that companies feel it’s appropriate to continue to try and sell us this lie.
The bods at Boots No7 clearly agree on this point, as they’ve created a whole campaign based around “street women” that consists of finding beauty in everyday reality, and helping you feel your best self rather than have you aspire to stupidly unrealistic images of airbrushed models. The campaign is a total winner, as it features women who are both beautiful and normal looking, which is pretty much how I’d describe the majority of women who I come into contact with. The fact is, we’re a lucky sex as we can make ourselves extremely attractive with the right lip colour, mascara or carefully matched foundation.
Not that I’m saying any of this is necessary, after all, we shouldn’t feel the need to ‘become attractive’ with the help of various products, but you’re certainly not reading this blog for the deep, political content, you’re here because like me, you like a bit of beauty booty, and on that basis it’s wonderfully positive that a brand as established as Boots No7 are taking a stand against the typical psychology of beauty advertising, and have found a way to make it both real and beautiful. I’m certainly just as drawn to the products used in this campaign as I would be in any other form of advertising – the realness of it all isn’t off-putting as I’m sure some companies will fear it could be, so it proves the point; real women are beautiful, and they can sell beauty just as effectively, if not more so, than a photo-shopped model.
The TaDah! campaign goes live in both print and TV later this week, so keep an eye out for it, and if you fancy a sneak previous of the TV ad, head to the Boots No7 Facebook page here from tomorrow onwards.
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