When beauty magazine Allure announced in August that it would cease using the term “anti-aging,” citing the fact that “growing older is something that should be embraced and appreciated,” the idea was widely celebrated by many in the industry.
Except Dior, which must not have been listening that day.
The iconic brand tapped 25-year-old Cara Delevingne to be the (wrinkle-free) face of its Capture Youth line, which, according to its website, “corrects all visible signs of aging to reveal a radiant youthful beauty.”
The brand announced the news via social media last week to mixed reviews, including an onslaught of confused comments and Twitter reactions.
“Nothing against Cara but really Dior, c’mon???” one commented wrote. “Don’t think I’ll be wasting đź’° on this product line since as clearly you don’t have much confidence in its abilities.”
“Love Cara, but having a 25-year-old as the face of products targeted at 30+ year olds doesn’t make sense,” another wrote.
Dior has not responded to HuffPost's request for comment.
According to W, the line is targeted to a slightly younger audience than its other anti-aging products, “to appeal to those who haven’t yet given thought to wrinkle-preventing regimes, aiming to delay and signs of aging before they appear.”
We’re not in disagreement about the importance of proper skincare, but casting a 25-year-old in an anti-aging campaign only further perpetuates the unrealistic standard of beauty that has been put forth by beauty campaigns for decades.
Not everyone is getting it wrong. L’Oreal has cast Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton and Helen Mirren in campaigns for both anti-aging products and other cosmetics. Ellen Degeneres has long starred in campaigns for CoverGirl and Olay’s anti-aging products. For what it’s worth, Mirren also fronted the very cover of Allure that banned the term and according to Telegraph, she said on a panel for L’Oreal in August that she, too, is disheartened by the idea of young women starring in these campaigns.
“It used to drive me crazy that the ads promoting skin products were using pictures of 15- and 16-year-old girls,” she said. “As a 30-year-old, I used to look at that and think, what the f―- are you talking about? It was ridiculous. P――- me off majorly. Advertisers are only just coming out of that, and it’s taken them a long time.”
The fact is, anti-aging products are going to exist as long as there are people who are interested in purchasing them. But there are more responsible ways to market them ― and this is not it.