Being
in the natural organic skin care business, Herbally Radiant has been monitoring
the development of new formulations and new ingredients worldwide that could be
considered for inclusion in its well-known beauty enhancing products.
One
such report in BBC attracted our attention last week. The South Korean beauty
formula reported to be based on snail extract was examined in the BBC report with
a view to examine the truth behind ‘too-good-to-be-true’ claims made by its
marketers.
It
is known that South Korean women have long been obsessed with skincare,
spending twice as much of their income on beauty products than their American
counterparts. With a perceived Korean dedication to new skincare products, Korean
beauty products in US have recorded popularity and big rise in sales - $ 1 bn
in 2012 and $ 1.91 bn in 2014.
The latest Korean product, face
cream made of snail extract is “supposed” to stimulate formation of collagen
and elastin. This seems to have developed into a ‘cult following’. However, Megan
McIntyre, beauty director at lifestyle website refinery29.com, says that most
American women who try the 10 steps recommended by the South Korean beauticians
can't keep it up. "After a while, many women who tried to keep up realized
that it was pretty damn expensive to use ten plus products a day, and there
wasn't necessarily a huge, noticeable difference in their skin," she says.
The benefits of snail extract in
skin care has also not been backed by any scientific study so far. It’s thus more
due to glamorous marketing campaigns targeted at unsuspecting consumers.
Among some other new marketing gimmicks,
which consumers might find questionable, are :
1)
Ready to use ‘beauty drink’ claimed to
enhance beauty. There is no scientific backing to support that a ‘beauty drink’
could be metabolized by body to improve beauty.
2)
Whitening cream: Malaysian Health
Minister last week asked manufacturer of such a whitening cream to withdraw the
product within 72 hours due to misleading claims.
3)
“The Telegraph” investigated many
such ‘beauty claims’ in such fashion magazines as Vogue, Glamour and Marie
Claire, and reported that 4 in 5 beauty claims could not be substantiated;
nearly 1 in 4 wrinkle removal lotions were “outright lies”; promises of ‘eternal
youth’ and ‘restoration of youthful glow’ simply did not hold water. Summing
up, it said out of a total 757 claims in these magazines, 621 did not stack,
18% were found acceptable while only 14% could be “trustworthy”.
4)
The marketers have also been using
baffling lexicon of pseudo-science as “clinically proven” or “dermatologically
tested” mainly as selling strategies.
5)
Among other common deceptive claims,
it referred to “makes hair stronger”, “patented formula”, “proven formula”, “hypoallergenic”
(FDA allows use of ‘hypoallergenic’ expression
without much fuss.)
When questioned on less than ethical marketing campaigns,
many cosmetic companies responded that without such claims consumers did not
respond to their advertisements.
There will always be new claims by cosmetic companies, many
with new marketing gimmicks which would have less to do with health of skin and
more with their sales targets.
Ultimately, it will be consumers’ awareness which could protect them
from deceptive or misleading claims.
By way of clarification, Herbally Radiant uses only USDA
certified ingredients to maintain top quality and safety of its natural
products – the safe and best option for consumers. As a policy, HerballyRadiant refrains from making misleading claims, or misleading statements.
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