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Truth in Advertising

We have all seen our fair share of unethical or misleading marketing campaigns in the world.  In the quest to win customers, companies will often do whatever they can to woo consumers to their value proposition.  Unfortunately, that involves blurring the lines of right and wrong far more than it should or needs to.  A few companies have decided to take a stand in the opposite direction.  Dove made headlines over a decade ago when they decided to use more natural models and CVS Health is following suit with a new set of standards for imagery associated with beauty products.  This article talks about the details of that move.  The article also has a good illustration of what an untouched photo looks like compared to a digitally altered image looks like.  CVS says they want to portray more realistic body imagery and will start appending a “beauty mark” to images that have not been altered.  It will also ban any alteration for imagery associated with CVS-brand makeup marketing.

Ask your students if they think this is a good move or a bad move by CVS.  Will authenticity help them sell more product or are consumers more likely to buy from competitors if those competitors continue to use altered imagery?

 

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