Truth: Cosmetics Will Not Get You Laid

The most frequent type of misleading advertising has to be the type that tries to convince you that using their product will increase your sex appeal or improve your love life. There is almost no evidence at all to suggest that any product - cars, clothes, cosmetics, soft drinks, etc., etc., actually make you more attractive or will make anyone attracted to you who wouldn't have been attracted to you otherwise. And believe me, if there were any evidence that any product did make you more attractive advertisers would have engraved that evidence in gold and built a shrine to house it in.

According to this article in the basics are:

"So what can we do to make ourselves more attractive to the opposite sex? The simplest answer for women is to reinforce the gender difference. Everything men are attracted to in women points towards an emphasis on femininity. Therefore a woman should dress herself as femininely as possible, emphasise her feminine features and wear make up. In this day and age, that sounds almost sexist! Does it just come down to clothes? Science also tells us that smiling and eye contact make people significantly more attractive, to both sexes. As for men, if looking for a stable relationship, the opposite advice applies: reduce the gender difference both in looks and behaviour, and emphasise the loving and caring partner aspects. Both sexes should try to remember, though: it's the men who compete and the women who choose. If it's something else, you're doing it wrong."

There is more information and links to resources on the topic at Wikipedia.

Basically though, yes you should brush your teeth, use soap and shampoo, launder your clothes but these are all things you do to avoid being unattractive. None of them, by themselves, is going to cause someone to be attracted to you and what brand of toothpaste or soap or shampoo you use makes no difference whatsoever. Cologne/perfume may smell nice (in small doses), but again it's not going to make you attractive to someone who isn't attracted to you otherwise and, with allergies on the rise, you may want to use some caution - triggering an allergic reaction will not make him/her like you more.

The reality is that the only product that will significantly improve your chance of having sex is an effective prophylactic, but then we're back to that part about how you were probably going to have sex anyway.




This is part of the ongoing Truth campaign in response to Advertising Standards Canada who say:

""Fact is, truth is an essential part of any successful ad campaign. Smart advertisers have known this for years. That's why the advertising industry created the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards. For more than 40 years, the Code has set the standards for acceptable advertising in Canada. It helps ensure that the ads you see and hear are truthful, fair and accurate. Check it out for yourself. Becausethe more you know about advertising, the more you get out of it."

and who..it appears paid a visit to the site recently (from Washington, D.C. no less)!


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