Today I am seething. This time it is over the ever-ageist ways of cosmetics companies.
Yes, my friends. MORE real tawk from me!!!
And what I find so discouraging is that in September, Allure magazine had one of its best cover photos ever. Helen Mirren—and the magazine made a promise to stop using the term “anti-aging”.
Thank you Allure, not only for the beautiful Helen Mirren gracing your September cover, but for your promise to stop using the phrase “anti-aging”. Unfortunately, it has fallen upon deaf ears!
All well and good.
But even though Allure promises us to end that offensive term, cosmetics companies still use the phrase and even worse, cosmetics companies seemingly lower their target buyers to the younger demographic.
The new demographic of beauty and cosmetics companies!
Dior cosmetics has just announced that 25-year old model Cara Delevigne is the new spokesmodel for their “Capture Youth” campaign
Cara Delevigne–Dior’s Capture Youth new spokesperson. Read about her in W’s article
Now—Ms. Delevigne is a beautiful woman. She of the naturally oversized eyebrows and pouty mouth. She has balls, she does, because in a world that is so focused on perfection, she shaved her head, dyed her hair some interesting colors and marches to the beat of her own drum. And for that, she has my respect.
She’s actually quite feisty–which is great, but at 25 years old to be an “anti-aging” spokesperson? Don’t get me started…
But—she is only 25 years old! Come on Dior!!! You know very well that the target demographic of your company has always been an older group. Your target group has been the 30-to 55-year old group. And, like Estee Lauder and other cosmetics companies, you’ve jumped ship on a group of women that has money to spend, all because you want to grab the youth market.
This photo from Paris Perfect showcases outfits from the Dior exhibit in Paris. Now, do you seriously think that Monsieur Dior was designing for the under 25 femme? I wonder how he would feel about his cosmetics company’s recent decision?
I swear I have so many thoughts going on in my head right now that I can’t even…
And randomly, I am going to just write those thoughts down.
Dior is a French company. Older women are revered in France. Older women are considered beautiful, chic, and wise in France. And so, I find it ironic that Dior, a French company, would ditch the older woman and gear all cosmetics and skincare needs toward the young demographic.
Carine Roitfeld, former editor of French Vogue is, IMHO, the embodiment of the refined older French woman. She doesn’t even wear foundation! No fillers. No nuthin’!
Hmmm. I wonder how Carine feels about the “anti-aging” phrase. For some reason, I’ll bet she can’t stand it!
Although I haven’t yet seen any “Capture Youth” products, here is a sampling of a couple of the “Capture Totale” items by Dior.
This moisturizer will cost you $165 for two ounces worth of product and packaging that looks like a million bucks!
This Dior serum is $225. for 1.7 ounces. Let’s see now. You can get fabulous serums from The Ordinary on the average of around $8.00. My favorite serum of all time, Skin Actives Collagen serum is $16.00 for one ounce. Hmmmmm. Hummmm! I guess that under-25 demographic is loaded with Benjamins to spend!
This stuff is expensive. Now—most of the “25-year old” group and younger—and even a bit older, have had a hard time finding jobs after graduating college. Many are still living with mommy and daddy. And those who are out of the house—well, a great deal of their take-home pay is spent on their apartment rentals, utilities, food and social lives.
As I said, many young adults are forced to move back home–is that how these young women can afford a serum for $225????
Younger girls will either go into debt to purchase very expensive cosmetics, won’t eat anything except tuna fish or ramen noodles (back in my day it was Tab soda and Marlboro Lights) so they can afford cute clothes and pricey makeup, or they will hit up mommy and daddy for “help”.
Most of the mommies and daddies I know just tell the adults to deal with adulting.
So you can’t afford $165 for a moisturizer? Deal with it! You are an adult now. Buy the store brand! Mommy does and it works!
That leaves me with this. Who is going to buy this stuff anyway?? The privileged one-percent? Those who work in the beauty industry and get a steep discount? Those who are only obsessed with brand names?
Let me tell you something. My daughter, Oona, went to the dermatologist two days ago. We had a conversation before she went and she happened to use the offensive phrase “anti-aging” to me. OK?
Oona thinks she has lines on her face. She doesn’t. But I’m thrilled that she is owning skin care! And I’m glad that her dermatologist agrees with me on “Pro-aging!”
I went off on a tangent about how bad that phrase is and that it is offensive to all women because the second you leave the uterus and hit the air, you are starting to age! After I told her that the correct term should be “PRO-aging”, I also told her to relay what I said to her dermatologist.
Basically, at 28 years old, Oona wants to get into some serious skin care and that makes me happy. And might I add that my daughter can afford to spend serious buckaroos on this. A few hours after her appointment, she called me, told me her skin check was fine, she has a prescription to help in her “pro-aging” and that her dermatologist agreed with me on the “pro-aging” term.
Mommy is always right!
But back to this “Capture Youth” campaign. Do you really want to capture your youth again? I don’t. My youth was fun but it was also a very awkward time. It was a time of my being unsure of myself. I made so many mistakes.
I like being older. I don’t necessarily like the loss of gravity on my face—that bothers me more than lines and wrinkles.
This is me. 62 years worth of pro-aging. The only thing I want to capture at this point is good health and a winning lottery ticket. That’s it!
And even when we do have wrinkles and lines on our faces—it isn’t the end of the world! We use products to hydrate and soften our skin. It’s called pro-aging!!
Yeah, Dior. I have a couple of your lip products. And I like them. I won’t throw them in the trash—not after the amount of money I spent but I will use them until there is no more. And every time I use them, I will be reminded of what an ageist company you are. And when there is no more product, I won’t replenish. Not now. Not ever. Never! Only when you return to your target audience will I return to you.
Dior Addict Ultra Gloss. It’s nice but I’m not repurchasing. At $30, I would have been better off purchasing drugstore lip gloss! My Fenty Lip Bomb was only $18.00
Another $30 Dior lip product. Creme de Rose Lip Balm. It’s nice but I won’t be repurchasing this either.
Before I end this little rant, I do want to thank three companies that are mature woman-friendly. One is the Deciem Company, creators of The Ordinary foundation. This company does Collab’s with older, mature women and isn’t into marketing or the kind of campaign that leaves certain demographic groups out. I support this company.
The other two are skin care companies. Vivant Skin Care and Skin Actives. Both carry on their business similar to Deciem—word of mouth. Companies that are mature woman-friendly will always have my support.
It’s also upsetting to me that we are living in a society that places too much on perfection. What is the message that the beauty industry is giving to these young women? That you need Botox and fillers in your twenties? That you aren’t pretty or attractive if you have any lines or wrinkles? That it’s wrong to age?
Do we strive to be like this???
Get with it Dior and all those other cosmetics and beauty companies. It isn’t anti-aging. It is pro-aging. And take note of who your real customers are.
Oy Vey! I gotta go find my sense of humor. It got lost and I need it back!!!
That’s right–mommy has to find her sense of humor. I may have found it!!!
Let me end this with a video I made this morning. Have a look at a real woman (me) with no work done. I did a neutral face because I went to have my Passport photo taken. Just my luck, the photo was taken but couldn’t be printed because the printer broke. I have to go back tomorrow.
Enjoy the video—and please subscribe to my channel because I am trying to give a voice to our demographic-it’s very important to me-! Thank you!! Tell your friends and frenemies! XOXOXOXO