Are Cosmetic Ads Lying To Us?

When you find a new cosmetic product, deciphering its benefits based on the science behind it can be difficult to understand unless you have a background in the subject, so relying on advertising to figure out whether something will actually work or not is a nice little luxury. But as it turns out, many cosmetic ads are lying to us, according to a recent study, so I guess it's not fail-safe to rely on their "findings" anymore. Gulp.

You've heard the claims before — "clinically proven, "ground-breaking research" — it all sounds so official, you of course believe it. But did you ever stop to think, wait a minute, that actually is really vague? (And vagueness is like, the exact opposite of precise and calculated science). Well, they are ambiguous for a reason. Researches have investigated this, and found that only about 18% of claims made by cosmetic companies in ads and commercials are trustworthy. And those are odds I do not like.

The study, published in the Journal of Global Fashion Marketing , found that the majority of claims are overly vague, and others are downright lies. So how do we decipher between the bogus and the credible?

Apparently, claims for well-being and happiness were generally well-founded, but those that tout scientific evidence and testing were largely substantiated. Moral of the story: unless you've seen the data for yourself, don't necessarily believe it.

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