Looks can be deceiving, they say. So can commercials, as we in the U.S. know. But according to our friends across the pond, this deception is worthy of legal action.
As Jezebel reports, a Clairol commercial is being banned in the U.K. for misrepresenting Christina Hendricks' dye job — in it, she went from red to golden blond. After complaints from two viewers, both hair-color educators who, the Advertising Standards Authority ruling states, "understood the color change depicted could not have been achieved using the product alone," the Authority determined Procter & Gamble fooled viewers by shooting Hendricks with blond hair before shooting her with red. The transformation plays out differently in the commercial. It also ruled that the ad "misleadingly exaggerated the capability of the product," and ordered that it not be broadcast again it its current form. (But you can watch it above, because the internet is a keeper of all things.)
For Americans who are bombarded with unrealistic beauty campaigns constantly, this feels kind of like: Way harsh, Tai. But our British friends go about things differently — and this isn't the first time a beauty campaign has been called out for being misleading: A U.K. Dior ad featuring Natalie Portman was pulled back in 2012 for being retouched, and a L'Oréal commercial with Helen Mirren was brought to trial after claims of airbrushing arose (spoiler: L'Oréal was cleared, and Mirren really is worth it).
When it comes to the Clairol commercial, it's suggesting that you can go from red to blond, well, nice 'n easy, but in reality, the process is more likely time-consuming and arduous. The color change would take multiple tries, and even then, might require some in-salon toning. So it's not necessarily the order of events in Clairol's ad that's up for debate (although that does play into the ruling), but the false representation of what this transition would look like IRL.
Here in the U.S.A., this is a debacle we're likely to see play out on an episode of Mad Men, but we'd totally be up for adopting the U.K.'s requirements for advertisements if it meant being held to some more realistic beauty standards.
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