Do I look Fat in this Dress?

“Do I look fat in this dress?” There is only one possible answer to that question.

Just give it. Never pause, never hesitate or even blink. Sometimes people want you to lie to them; they need you to lie to them. When it comes to women and beauty some principles trump honesty.

The beauty industry of course is notorious for making claims that skirt the truth more often than not. This fact is probably best illustrated by the pay-off of the French cosmetics brand ROC. It’s “We keep our promises.”

I beg your pardon? These people advertise with the fact that they keep their promises. That’s like a Bank saying “Trust us: we won’t steal your money!” or Unilever putting “This soup has NOT been laced with a deadly poison.” on their soup cans.

Would you trust such a bank with your life savings? Would you feed your kids that soup?  It seems ROC considers honesty a unique enough quality in their industry for it to be their sole pay-off. But hold on, it gets a little worse.

A friend of mine, dr. Jetske Ultee is an absolute expert on skin care and skin care products. Jetske once told me a story about C0Q10 – a well know anti oxidant which most of us know simply as Q10. Qpharma is the patent holder of C0Q10.

The Andrew Jergens Company advertised that one of its products ‘now contains the natural power of Q10, [which] helps to reveal healthier skin.’ Qpharma subsequently sued the Andrew Jergens Company for patent infringement. Seems like a clear win for Qpharma, no?

Now comes the good stuff. The defence attorney revealed that the Andrew Jergens Compnay only used a very low concentration (0,00005 %) of Q10 in its product. At such a near-homoeopathically low concentration the ingredient wouldn’t work at all. Hence no patent was actually broken, he argued.

Realizing the futility of their pursuit, Qpharma decided to drop the case. The Andrew Jergens Company got off the hook by admitting they were cheating their own customers. Apparently these practices are wide spread in this industry. They call it Angel Dusting.

It has a nice ring to it.

No matter what you call it though – I think Andrew Jergens does look a little fat in that dress.

2 Comments

  1. Reinko

    Good anecdote. So what would you have the beauty industry do?

  2. Bastiaan van de Werk

    Hi Reinko,

    I think that part of the industry will stay the course. There is probably a good market to be explored for brands that approach their customers with a different set of values.

    Such us honesty and (scientific?) integrity…

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