Why does the advertising of anti-ageing products only spotlight younger-looking skin?

The beauty industry has progressed exponentially, but not enough to change the way anti-ageing skincare products are promoted

From the emergence of novice product categories to the play of social media channels, several factors have contributed to the boom in the beauty industry globally. However, despite all the newness, the narrative of anti-ageing products continues to prevail. A quick conversation with your mother, or perhaps grandmother, will tell you how  advertisements of anti-ageing products have been capitalising on women’s insecurities for a long time now. 

Wrinkles, fine lines, dark spots and other early signs of ageing have almost always been positioned as grave concerns that need to be “reversed”, “corrected” or “battled”. However, they’re anything but problems and are, in fact, the most common phenomena that occur on the skin with age, like any other age-related alterations in the body. But brands and their advertisements seemed to have done it all wrong, for years, whether that was juxtaposing extremely wrinkled and glowing skin before and after using a product or by betting on a script that featured an interplay between a woman and her nebulous emotions with respect to the changes in her skin. It’s fair to say that most of the time, the messaging has been anti-wrinkle and anti-fine lines whereas it ideally should have been about the transposing needs of your skin and information about the ingredients you might need to add to your skincare routine.

By whitewashing a portrayal that isn’t nurturing consumers and their understanding of what ageing skin is really about, brands have managed to beef up the insecurities and create a desire to boast a teenager-like skin forever. “TVCs not only tend to highlight insecurities but also sometimes go so far as inventing a new insecurity that didn’t exist before,” opines Mumbai-based content creator Shalini Kutti. While things have slowly begun to change, we still have a long way to go, especially when it comes to television commercials and influencer-led social media advertisements. We speak to several women who weigh in their opinion on conventional ways of marketing anti-ageing products.

Understanding anti-ageing skin(care)

There’s no doubt that with age, everyone’s skin is subjected to some amount of natural metamorphosis. Wrinkles, fine lines and droopy skin are likely to occur but it’s key to understand why. As you age, the volume of collagen (the protein that binds your skin cells) in your skin starts depleting, causing increased transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and thereby loss of moisture, lack of elasticity, aggravated dryness, dullness and fine lines and wrinkles. Add the exposure to environmental aggressors and harmful ultraviolet sun rays over the years, and you’ll identify the culprits behind the lacklusterness and dark spots on your skin. 

Efforts to prevent damage and improve or maintain the skin’s quality led to the creation of the category of anti-ageing products. From age-old hacks unique to different traditions—think Elizabethan women using slices of meat to minimise wrinkles and pores or French women rubbing wine on the face—to the development of Frownies—wrinkle-diminishing patches created by Princess Margaret Aroesen in 1889, the release of the first-ever anti-ageing cream by Dior in 1980s, the FDA approval of tretinoin in 1995 and the approval of botox in 2002, the anti-ageing cosmetic industry has come a long way. And yet, anti-wrinkle, as a premise, takes away the spotlight. 

Today, a slew of ingredients are synonymous with anti-ageing benefits, including retinol, bakuchiol, hyaluronic acid, peptides, tretinoin and so forth. More and more anti-ageing skincare products are championing these ingredients for healthier, smoother, glowing and youthful-looking skin minus dullness, poor pore health and dehydration. The catch? Most of them continue to bank on a certain ingredient’s “anti-ageing” properties without giving a lowdown on how that happens scientifically. Some education-first dermatologists and beauty content creators, however, are changing the course of the consumer journey by sharing the right information so that one can make well-informed decisions.

What do women want?

Actor and singer Shibani Dandekar began using anti-ageing products in her 20s, and the idea behind it was that the younger you start, the more beneficial it is. “I find preventative care to be better than trying to treat the skin once you are well into the ageing process,” says Dandekar. “However, I don’t think I ever expected any of these products to physically make me look younger. I think the intent was to cater to the skin in a more meaningful way.” For Dandekar, falling back on ingredients that allow you to take care of your skin and help the ageing process to happen gracefully and effectively and ensuring you’re applying the right kind of products is what’s truly important.

Upon being asked if younger-looking skin really holds a place of importance while purchasing a product, stylist and fashion entrepreneur Pernia Qureshi says, “Yes, who doesn’t want younger-looking skin? But, what does that mean? It means skin that is more hydrated, tight and plump. That sounds like healthy skin.” Filmmaker Shaana Levy Bahl agrees with Qureshi: “If my facialist or a friend recommends a product that actually helps accomplish younger-looking skin, I am in! However, unless it is a product that actually performs plastic surgery, statements about anti-ageing products as the one-stop solution to get teenager-like skin are far from the truth, but a wonderful dream to sell.”

Srimoyi Bhattacharya, founder of Mumbai-based Peepul Advisory, shares that the only anti-ageing products she keeps trying are those meant for the eyes, “and I am yet to find the perfect match for me.” Bhattacharya expects a product to deliver what it claims. “I find that the eye area is the most exposed to age, wrinkles, circles and puffiness. And the challenge is that all most effective solutions are highly intrusive. For some brands, the advice is actually a preemptive one, which is to start nourishing your skin early enough to maintain it. I see the logic in that; improvement builds over time, with consistent usage.” ​​Kutti has never actively sought out anti-ageing products per se; instead, she gets intrigued by ingredients that claim to slow down the process. “This seems to me a safer bet considering marketing techniques employed by brands these days. I personally don’t feel like anything is ever as simple as a one-stop solution, so I don’t tend to buy skincare with those kinds of high expectations.”

Is the term ‘anti-ageing’ problem-solving or problem-making?

“For decades ,the beauty industry has pushed the concept of anti-ageing through marketing campaigns and product lines promising to fight the natural effects of age and leave a youthful glow. At Aminu, we believe it is impossible to run away or be anti (towards) ageing,” says Aman Mohunta, co-founder, Aminu. “[The term] Anti-ageing contains harmful rhetoric that refuses to accept that everyone does and will age over time. Rather than feeling shame that another wrinkle has appeared or collagen has depleted, better ageing accepts that beauty evolves throughout life as an inevitable process.” Levy Bahl also agrees that there are problematic social norms surrounding beauty and ageing. “Beauty brands are in the business of making money so of course, they are going to target an inbuilt insecurity,” she shares. 

What appeals to Bhattacharya is the idea of glow-inducing skincare. “I am also a firm proponent of all skincare that is non-intrusive precisely for this reason: No botox, no fillers, no needles in any form. In a nutshell, clean beauty is the way to go.” Dandekar is equally invested in a skincare routine or product that promises a healthy glow over anything else. “For me, anti-ageing products are more about having the right kind of hydration, sun protection and collagen-boosting benefits. I think most people are aware that this doesn’t ever mean you will look like you are in your 20s—no, never. I look for products that feel good on my skin and make it glow and feel fresh. This is a trial-and-error process—what looks good packaging-wise, brand-wise and what feels good. But the ‘younger-looking skin promise’ is never really one I’ve personally bought into.” 

Qureshi only relies on tried and tested recommendations and expert/doctor advice, and doesn’t take TVCs and advertising pertaining to anti-ageing seriously as they’re over-exaggerated more often than not.

Let ageism take a back seat

“Age isn’t something to run from but something to aspire to. We want to change the conversation around anti-ageing skincare and embrace better ageing. And so, we formulate our products with nutrients such as fatty acids, amino acids, peptides, and hyaluronic acid, which have a foundational role within the skin, occurring naturally as part of skin structure but can deplete as skin ages,” says Mohunta. 

Qureshi feels testimonials from real women who use the products would be great. “It would also be nice to hear advertisers speak about the products in a real practical way, rather than make it look like a magical solution.” In the light of an education-first approach, Bhattacharya hopes to see an Indian version of the beauty portal Goop, founded by Gwyneth Paltrow, as it is an example of white space in our market. “I can’t relate to the US version but I’d like to see this model being localised.”

While Kutti thinks raw and real campaigns are likely to have better relatability, Dandekar believes that there is a need to go filter-free “We all know that photos and campaigns consist of airbrushing and filtering. Maybe, brands can just be more raw with the output. The beauty industry markets things a certain way. I don’t think it is the language of anti-ageing that’s a problem, maybe just the photoshopped visuals that accompany it.” However, she also believes that one shouldn’t hide away from resorting to anti-ageing products if they wish to. “We are all ageing every minute; talking about it should be an open, honest conversation. While there are products that work for women in their 20s, older women need products for their skin and I don’t think defining them as anti-ageing is a problem.” Levy Bahl concludes, “All we have to focus on is keeping the skin healthy, no matter what the age is.”

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