Entry 2: Blame Biology

It's impossible to read magazines geared towards teenagers without the constant ads for acne creams, cover up, and any other possible ways to hide the oozing mountain ranges that we call skin. It's nice to know that everyone else hates our faces as much as we do, but it's not nice that the majority of these ads are incredibly stupid. Print ads and commericals for Epiduo, a topical acne treatment, particularly piss me off. 

Look at those hip, random doodles; it's like they really understand the teenage mind! It's Ad Populum-appealing to the popular idea that teenagers are all whimsical daydreamers who convey deep meaning in doodles. And those girls look just like me, 25 yeard old and...wait...clear skin? Epiduo has the nerve to draw zits onto models with skin like dewy flower petals on the first day of spring. They aren't even the weird, bright red CGI zits in the Clearasil commercials, they're black circles supposed to look like they've been drawn by pen. 

The popularity of using completely unblemished models in print ads and commercials for acne treatment is understandable but depressing. It shows us sad, pizza-faced people what we yearn to be, forcing us to compare our skin to what we see on the TV or page. It simultaneously destroys our confidence to try and make us want to change our skin, and puts us in a blissful, beauty-induced stupor so we're less critical and more trusting. 

The technique relies completely on pathos, in fact it's pretty illogical. This specific add doesn't even do us the courtesy of having a most likely photoshopped before and after picture to ease our skeptical minds. We're expected to just trust these fresh-faced models.

Who's idea was this? Are these girls who used to be plagued with horrible acne that used Epiduo and now reminisce about their bumpy past with Sharpies and photos of themselves because the Epiduo has affected their minds? Maybe it causes you to hallucinate unicorns and the chemical structure of "science." There's really no telling what it all means because the design of the ads are ridiculous. Sadly, the actual words are worse.

"A breakout. Another breakout. Oh, look...another breakout. Hey, is that a breakout?" No, Epiduo, no, those are sharpie circles. The presence of the word "breakout" is an example of reification. It's used in both ads, and inspires fear deep in my soul. Breakouts are the stereotypical crisis of the teenage existence. I watch a show that follows a 15 year old girl's life, and an entire episode is devoted to her intense questioning of self-worth when she get's a pimple. It's called "The Zit." In reality, most of us get at least a few breakouts, (if you don't please die) and they're a lot less of a big deal than we think. 

There's also shameless vagueness in these ads they tried to play off as humor. "Super acne fighting stuff" and "science" hardly explain why and how Epiduo will kill all the hideous pimples keeping us from enjoying life. It's almost insulting. They expect us to be dumb, zitty teenage girls who will see this and say, "OMG Mom, I need it, it has, like, super acne fighting stuff!" It could be considered an appeal to ignorance. 

In the fine print, there is also an example of weasel words. "You could pay no more than $35 for your Epiduo prescription." We could? Oh thank you for telling us a random price there's no way we're going to  be paying. There's even an asterisk after that $35, and the information it points us to at the bottom is too small to read with human eyes. Maybe using Epiduo causes unicorn hallucinations and better eyesight. 

This Epiduo campaign is one of the least reality-based series of ads I've ever seen. The purposeful use of unblemished models is almost disdainful. It's easy to imagine rich executives or CEOs or whatever fancy fat aging men in suits are called sitting around a big mahogany table. "Should we find some teens with acne and have their journey to clear skin be the center of our ads?" "Ha! Marketing is about appealing to these idiots' deepest desires--just slap on a pretty girl, that's all we need!" If these Epiduo ads alone made you believe the product would work without further research, and I quote Jeffrey Ruttledge: "You are soo dumb."