Cosmetic wonder creams - science fiction or science fact?

I'm a 23-year old female, writes Ify Anyaegbunam.  A recent test using a machine called a Multi Dermascope tells me that I have the skin elasticity of a 20-year-old.  So why is it that I am currently searching for an affordable anti-wrinkle cream?  Do I really believe I can find the secret to eternal youth for under £7?

According to psychologists it is because looking old can cause serious mental distress. Where a wrinkle or two on a man adds character, on a woman they represent a slippery slope to old age.  It seems many women in the UK agree.  According to a Boots survey, 1 in 3 women over the age of 30 now uses an anti-ageing product.  A fact that the likes of L'Oreal, Boots and other cosmetics giants have used to create a multi-billion pound industry.

British women spend £6bn a year on beauty products.  Whatever your affliction, if you're willing to pay for it, there's bound to be a solution.  As far as making ourselves look slimmer, younger, taller, more tanned, and generally more beautiful, there are a range of creams, tablets, treatments and surgical procedures to choose from. They're all packed full of ceramides, peptides, alpha-hydroxy acids, retinoids and many other ingredients I can't even spell.  And, they're all backed by varying degrees of science.

Gone are the days when the advertising mantra was “sex sells”.  This seems to have been replaced by “science sells”.  In a bid to convince us that these products can offer some kind of benefit, our adverts come with an impressive range of scientific claims.  So what about these claims?  Do they really mean anything or is it all pseudo-science to flog products?

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) isn't convinced.  It has recently upheld a complaint about the press ads for Boots Super Slim No. 7 Anti-Cellulite Balm because the evidence to support their claims was too dependent on self-assessment.  In a similar case, French cosmetics giant L'Oreal was forced by the ASA to withdraw a major ad campaign after making claims for two products, Anti-Wrinkle De-Crease face cream and Perfect Slim anti-cellulite cream.  The TV ads claimed that 76% of women had “visibly reduced expression lines” after using Anti-Wrinkle De-Crease and that 71% of women found that Perfect Slim “visibly reduced the appearance of cellulite”.  The ASA ruled that there was not enough evidence to support either claim.

Many companies, including Boots and L'Oreal insist that the claims they make are substantiated by scientific evidence and customer research.But are they telling us the full story?  How many people took part in the trials? Did the participants know what products they were testing or were they “blinded” to it as they would be in a real scientific trial?  Does the company test their brand against other brands?  Do these creams really work?  Or are cosmetics companies simply lying to us?

Here comes the science. The ingredients found within many anti-ageing products do have proven effects on the skin.  So in theory, the creams containing these ingredients should work to some degree.  Retinoids make the skin produce new cells more quickly, making it thicker and more compact.  After a month or two the skin is smoother and fine wrinkles are reduced.  But there is a limit.  What we are not told, is that it will never have the same effect as a facelift or even botox.   If you stop using it, your skin will revert back to its original condition.

For companies such as L'Oreal, Unilever and P&G science is big business and key to their sales.  Globally, L'Oreal has 13 research and 13 evaluation centres and employees 3,000 staff working on cosmetic and fundamental scientific research.  With profits of £1.4bn last year the company can certainly afford the €507 million it spends each year on research. Unilever devotes approximately 2.5% of its yearly turnover to research and development.  In the UK alone they employ over 1400 scientists and technologists in their research centres.  Procter & Gamble has 20 labs around the world and spends 3% of its net sales on research and development, research that makes good business sense because most of it is aimed at convincing us to buy.

Fortunately independent experts such as Dr Nick Lowe, consultant dermatologist and clinical professor of dermatology at the University of California (quoted in The Times, Body & Soul, April 16th 2005), believe that most of the research is legitimate.  Cosmetics giants such as L'Oreal, Vaseline, Nivea, Clarins, Neutrogena, Dove, all have good scientific grounding.

The problem is, the science within the products is not so much in dispute as the techniques employed by some of these companies to cloud the science and mislead women.  Advertisers are aware that when we watch an advert for Anti-Wrinkle De-Crease, we’re not interested in the detail of the science.  We are distracted by a close-up of Claudia Schiffer's face making different expressions just as the clarification appears stating that the claim applies to isolated skin tissues in laboratory tests and not to the human face.

What these companies do so well is use advertising as a means of tapping into our deepest desires and insecurities and telling us about products that will satisfy them.  While there is no doubt that some companies try to blind us with science and images of flawless women are they not just responding to what we want?

For most women today, beauty is less about vanity and more about self-confidence.  And cosmetics are less about the science and more about emotions. We want a product that will make us feel good about ourselves.  But we also want a product that works and is from a company that we can trust. Dove has made a fortune simply by basing its “Campaign for Real Beauty” on this insight.

As Maria Labedzka, Unilever UK Technical Manager, points out when asked about Unilever's approach to claims, “cosmetics are about fulfilling dreams and increasing self-confidence, but claims have to be substantiated.  The key is not to disappoint consumers, so the product has to do what it says on the bottle.”

This is the main problem that the cosmetics industry faces.  The ASA is responding to a lack of confidence from the public.  With headlines such as “The lies of the beauty industry laid bare” and articles such as these, it is not women we need to worry about, it’s the damage the cosmetics industry is doing to its own credibility.  What the likes of Boots and L'Oreal need to understand is that it is not in their interest to be seen to mislead consumers.  By marketing products based claims that can not be clearly substantiated by independent scientists they're putting the public credibility of the whole sector at risk.

As for young women and beauty, we all know what price we're willing to pay to make ourselves feel better.  Are these claims really any worse than telling a young man that if he sprays more Lynx he will get any woman he wants or claiming that 9 out of 10 cats prefer Whiskers?  Well, if I am perfectly honest, only marginally.  But I'm a little bit comforted when I talk to people like David Webster, PR Manager for Unilever UK’s Health & Beauty portfolio, including Dove; who says, “Many women love the Dove brand for the refreshing honesty of its advertising, but they wouldn't repeatedly buy Dove products if they did not deliver against their expectations.  Its therefore vital the claims we make in our advertising are backed by research and development that delivers consistently high quality products.”

In my opinion, far from persuading women to part with their hard earned cash for products that have no real benefit, the fierce competition between cosmetics companies to continue to innovate is good for us.  If anything, it means that we are able to buy high-tech products are affordable prices.  The science is there, you just have to decide how much you're willing to pay for it.

• Ify Anyaegbunam, a Marjon graduate, is corporate relations executive for Lever Faberge.

Comments

[Karlie]

I totally agree on how antiaging process matters to women today. The more you believe in the science, the better the product works on you!

[Elise]

I agree totally with Karlie, the more you use antiaging products the better you feel. I'm 40 and feel absolutely great when I remember to use the products and absolutely crappy when I don't. Go figure....