If magazine ads are any indication, everyone wants to turn back the clock. In recent years, a plethora of beauty lotions, creams, serums, beverages and supplements have dawned the marketplace in an effort to make consumers look and feel younger. Thousands of products claim to decrease the visible signs of aging, mainly by improving collagen production and decreasing fine lines and wrinkles, one of the more visible signs of aging (1). However, the FDA doesn’t require pre-market approval of products, so many of them push their marketing lingo to the max. So which products work and which do not? The best way to answer these questions is to examine the research behind the lofty claims.
The Anti-Aging Business
In seeking out products that help consumers look and feel young, they are often mesmerized by swanky packaging and touched-up marketing photos found in cosmeceutical ads. With a majority of people choosing such products to alter their outside appearance, what makes one look good often makes them feel good at the same time, thereby extending the benefits. Scientific-sounding verbiage is often used to market these products through magazines, on TV, in stores, through brochures/pamphlets in doctors’ offices, on the Internet and through direct mail. Claims such as “stimulates cellular renewal and increases the number of fibroblasts,” “recapture your skin’s normal hormonal balance,” and “target the inflammatory response” may be used even if the advertised product isn’t based on science, or even on extrapolated science. Regardless, these claims still sound convincing enough for many consumers. Another successful marketing technique involves using words that hit on a deep emotion–how someone feels about their appearance.
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Original source: http://antiaginginfo.us/2008/11/21/anti-aging-cosmeceuticals-what-works-and-what-doesnt-anti-aging-is-big-business-and-growing-rapidly-but-it-is-important-to-know-how-to-navigate-the-flashy-packaging-and-lofty-claims/
