The Truth About Cosmetics Ads

Everyone loves parodies. Here’s one for you to enjoy!

Commercials are used to convince consumers to buy a company’s product. This parody, though not a real advertisement, shows exactly how they are used to tell STORIES to entice viewers. The video itself is more of an exposition than a narrative, but I think it is relevant to our topic as it is cleverly used to show how commercials (narratives) make use of tools of narrative to sell a product. The fact that it is a parody of commercials makes it more of a narrative than it actually is.

The narrators used in this video are average-looking girls who are nobodies. This deliberate selection of characters convinces the audience that they are speaking for them and like them. We compare them to the celebrities who hog our TV screens and we are likely to trust them more. Here, we see that advertisements for cosmetics use characters who are epitomes of beauty so that they themselves can be a proof of the product. Interestingly, ‘heroes’ used in this video are different from the ‘heroes’ used in commercials because they advocate different messages – truth, as compared to skin-deep beauty.

Sardonicism is evident – the ‘characters’ talk in an upbeat tone (like in commercials) which mocks at the too-honest information they are relating to the audience. A stark contrast is also brought about when we see that they imitate the narrators in commercials we see on TV every day, but this time they speak the truth.

The fake settings used in the video may be a reflection of the low budget, but it can also be a subtle reflection of how commercials use settings which seem more real, but convey messages which are less truthful than what the video says.

One thing that builds up the impact of the message of the video is the compilation of micro events. It talks about different kinds of cosmetics, including mascara, shampoo, perfume and facial solutions. Rising action builds up to the climax, which is when we find out that beauty companies which appear to campaign for a cause (breast cancer awareness) are actually actively using toxic ingredients in their products. The horror is doubled when we realise that on top of exaggeration, cosmetics companies blatantly lie to us.