Advertising may be the most annoying and unremarkable part of our day. Annoying for endlessly cushioning all the things we try to relax and dissociate with — TV shows, movies, social media, even magazines and ebooks. Their reputation for being the ‘stuff before the stuff you actually want’ allows them to fly under our conscious analysis in order to pivot directly into our subconscious minds. They Live conspiracy glasses aside, ads and their prevalence in the media so many of us consume directly shape the way we think about culture.
In October of last year, skincare brand The Ordinary launched an ad campaign across social media and television. The video ad promoted a page on their website with a graphic called the ‘periodic fable’. The graphic poked fun at ‘beauty myths’ and the pseudoscientific language used in trendy beauty products promoted by influencers and other advertising methods. The campaign, as with most ad campaigns, was just another string of videos and images that faded into obscurity as newer ones came down the tube. However, this campaign in particular caught my eye for one reason.
The commercial follows a group of people each representing a beauty myth (such as poreless or anti-aging), chanting in front of a projector screen until it is hijacked by The Ordinary and reveals the periodic fable. The ad follows in a long line of ads referencing the famous ‘2-minute-hate’ scene in the film version of 1984, or perhaps referencing Apple’s own ad reference to the film.
We can see how the brand wishes to appear to viewers here: as a disrupting force or a light in the shadow of misinformation. It presents these grotesque figures with stretched skin and strange, alienlike garments. The ad pokes fun at Kardashian level beauty influencers in this way, revealing something about who they are pitching themselves to.
Even simply in the name, The Ordinary attempted to appeal to those who think of themselves as part of the societal norm. This ‘ordinary’ window is one women specifically are often tasked with fitting into. To not be too ‘crazy’ about themselves, like the Kardashians, but also to ‘take care’ of themselves and look pretty in a way that others can consume. The ‘elements’ on the periodic fable can each be highlighted for a little informational blurb. The blurb for the ‘poreless’ element notes that “your skincare can’t erase pores, but facts can be blurred.” The implication of the word facts implies that pores are something nastily unavoidable, though every person on the planet has them (talk about natural).
To give credit where due, the brand is one of the only popular in the beauty influencer sphere that prioritizes dermatology research to formulate their products. Skin care can be really helpful for those with sensitive skin or dermatological conditions. Skin care routines can also be a nice break from dealing with the stresses of day-to-day life. Some people work all day to care for others and a soothing cleanser may be just what they need to help focus on themselves momentarily. I cannot deny the many people in my life who get a lot out of their skin care routines, often using products from The Ordinary.
However, The Ordinary is, at heart, a brand that wants to advertise and sell products to the largest number of people possible, with its main channel of doing so being advertising. They may have better business practices, but a large amount of their sales come from people who scroll through endless videos of influencers with perfect skin putting muck on their faces. Those same people who judge others for not looking a certain way.
These videos and advertising may appear to be simply annoying or mindless pieces of media in a sea of many others, but we can see that the true intentions of these advertisers is only to get you to watch the video or buy the muck. To cast the biggest net that wrangles the most consumers, advertisers must play into social norms and perceived popular culture. These norms, even when so cheekily acknowledged, still reinforce harmful ideas about people. In this case, they are beauty standards which have caused deep insecurities in those that view this media.
There are few people in my life who have not felt at some point deeply insecure about themselves and their place in society. I would argue there are probably few people in general who have never felt that way. Advertising does not carry the blame for all of this, but the passive use of normality only reinforces these insecurities for the sake of profit. Critical engagement with these campaigns and such methods of advertising only helps to remove yourself and those around you from the expectations of being ‘ordinary’.
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