Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson, MP for East Dunbartsonshire, claimed the pictures used in cosmetic giant L'Oreal's magazine campaigns were misleading and "not representative of the results the products could achieve" because they had been digitally manipulated.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld the claim, agreeing that the images - used to promote products from the company's Lancome and Maybelline brands - breached the advertising standards code for misleading and exaggeration.
L'Oreal's two-page advert featuring Roberts, who is the face of Lancome, promoted a foundation called Teint Miracle, while Turlington featured in a Maybelline campaign for an "anti-ageing" foundation called The Eraser. Both have now been banned from publication.
L'Oreal admitted post-production techniques had been used in its advert featuring Turlington to "lighten the skin, clean up make-up, reduce dark shadows and shading around the eyes, smooth the lips and darken the eyebrows".
However, the beauty firm said it believed the image accurately illustrated the results the product could achieve. It also said the flawless skin in the image of Roberts was down to her "naturally healthy and glowing skin", adding the product had taken 10 years to develop.
The advert featuring Roberts stated: “Aura is natural light emanating from beautiful skin. We can reproduce this. 10 years of research, seven patents pending: Lancôme invents its 1st foundation that recreates the aura of perfect skin. Instantly complexion appears naturally bare, beautifully flawless and luminous, as if lit from within. See yourself in a new light.”
L’Oreal said the image was taken by celebrityphotographer Mario Testino. The firm claimed he used a lot of light, which was flattering, and reduced the appearance of imperfections by giving the image a soft focus and lower resolution.
The company said consideration should also be given to the fact the image was in the context of an advert for foundation, a product which was designed to cover skin flaws and imperfections. It said the product’s main selling point was its ability to illuminate skin and make it appear glowing, with the advert an “aspirational picture of beautiful radiant skin”.
Lancôme also provided a table of consumer testing scores, including the finding that the consumers tested felt the product made their complexion look more radiant and luminous.
An ASA spokesman said: “We acknowledged that Julia Roberts was an actress well known for her beauty, and that professional styling and make-up were used to create the image.
“We understood that high- quality studio photography and the inherent covering and smoothing nature of the product also contributed to the image of flawless skin. We noted that in addition to the factors above, the image was produced with the assistance of post-production techniques.
“While Lancôme provided detail on the techniques they used, we noted that we had not been provided with information that allowed us to see what effect those enhancements had on the final image.
“On the basis of the evidence we had received we could not conclude that the ad image accurately illustrated what effect the product could achieve, and that the image had not been exaggerated by digital post-production techniques. We therefore concluded the advert was misleading.” Ms Swinson said the two adverts were "particularly bad examples of excessive re-touching" which misled consumers.
She said: "Even if women do know they are being lied to, it doesn't make it right. We should have honesty in advertising - that's a basic principle of our advertising laws."
Ms Swinson, co-founder of the Campaign for Body Confidence, continued: "I think there's a bigger issue as well because, you know, we are in a situation where one in four people say they are depressed about their body.
"If you look at the young women aged 16 to 21, half of them say they would consider cosmetic surgery at that age, and you've also got a situation where eating disorders have doubled in prevalence over the last 15 years. So we do have a big issue in the UK about how people feel about their bodies."
She said "flawless images" in advertising, the media and editorials were not helping the situation. Many consumers would welcome more realistic pictures, she went on. "I think they (consumers) would welcome some reality."
She also said it was an issue she had been approached about in the street in her constituency.
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