The Unattractive Side of Advertising

Monday morning my alarm goes off and I inevitably press snooze multiple times. Its Monday, so like a lot of people, I look tired. Not to worry though, just a rummage through my makeup bag and hey presto, no more tired eyes. I pick an outfit to look smart but casual, and of course ‘effortless’ for work, and I’m ready to complete another day of PhD research contributing to science.

The point of this anecdote is that at no point did I feel that I needed to make a choice – do I want to make myself feel more confident/presentable by wearing makeup, or do I want to be a good scientist? These things are not mutually exclusive, and like most people in their twenties, I am able to do both of these things and not sacrifice one over the other.

This week, the new Benefit advertising campaign, with slogan ‘skip class, NOT concealer’ was splashed all over my Twitter feed. To me, this slogan is wrong on two levels – 1. It hints that looking tired is unacceptable, and covering up your tiredness should be prioritised (how dare you turn up to work/school/university looking anything less than perfect) 2. A choice must be made between looking good and having an education.

Picture: Mercury Press via the Metro

In a world where the younger generations are increasingly using social media to compare themselves to others, filter out their imperfections, and are exposed to Instagram models and fitness fanatics constantly, this superficial bubble should not be engulfing education. Make-up and fashion brands should be promoting everyone to strive for the best with regards to education or their career choices. Yes, you may look tired and frazzled today, but wow you've made a huge step in your research and a contribution to the knowledge in your field (e.g. cancer research) - that's pretty cool. 

Personally, I also feel like this campaign undermines the hard work that high achieving women across fields are putting in to fight the stereotypes that women can only have brains or beauty, or the outdated view that being deemed conventionally ‘attractive’ or ‘pretty’ means that you are less dedicated to your work or less able. Setting aside 10 minutes in the morning to apply makeup does not mean that you are distracted from your work or less committed. This also goes hand in hand with a new study showing that ‘attractive’ scientists are perceived as less able, conducting lower quality research, but actually more interesting and useful for engaging the public (Telegraph, 2017).

Additionally, I feel that Benefit are also forgetting something really important here – there are many people in the world that can only dream of receiving an education. If you are privileged enough to receive an education, don’t take it for granted.

However, not all cosmetic brands are cut from the same cloth. L’Oréal is a longstanding supporter of Women in Science, recognising and awarding the hard work of women across the globe. I do find it a shame that brands like Benefit have a huge platform that they could use to promote positive messages and encourage younger generations, especially young girls, to be intelligent and creative and to try their hand at male dominated fields (such as science, technology, engineering and maths), but instead opt for praying on self esteem issues and devaluing the importance of education. The binary view that boys should be hard-working and girls should look pretty is very stone-age if you ask me.